--- title: Obesity: Rates Are Increasing in American Women description: Rates of obesity in the United States are high, and among women they are increasing. canonical: https://time.com/4359637/obesity-americans-women-men/ author: Alexandra Sifferlin article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-06-07T15:00:50.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T22:26:13.367Z article:section: Health og:title: 40% of U.S. Women Are Now Obese og:description: The numbers are on the rise og:url: https://time.com/4359637/obesity-americans-women-men/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt911a2d714bb15214/6987789d55a85942a4a85200/health-weight-scale-1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2560 og:image:height: 1440 og:image:alt: TIME.com stock photos Weight Loss Health Exercise Scale og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: 40% of U.S. Women Are Now Obese twitter:description: The numbers are on the rise twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt911a2d714bb15214/6987789d55a85942a4a85200/health-weight-scale-1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # 40% of U.S. Women Are Now Obese > Sponsored content. 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Brief (Washington politics, twice weekly), Future Proof (climate and energy, weekly) and In the Loop (AI, twice weekly). All are free at time.com/newsletters and together reach more than 1.1 million engaged readers. #### Which TIME newsletter should I subscribe to? It depends on what you follow. For a daily briefing, The Brief. For health, Health Matters. For Washington politics, D.C. Brief. For AI and technology, In the Loop. For climate and energy as a business story, Future Proof. For culture recommendations, Worth Your Time. For how TIME's journalism gets made, Inside TIME. Readers can select any combination at time.com/newsletters. #### Are TIME's newsletters free? Yes. All seven TIME newsletters are free to join at time.com/newsletters. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes TIME's newsletters? TIME journalists write them. Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=255158a3-672c-4159-a9a6-519f9b22131d&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1) by [Alexandra Sifferlin](https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/) ## Alexandra Sifferlin Jun 7, 2016 3:00 PM UTC  Elizabeth Renstrom for TIME by [Alexandra Sifferlin](https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/) ## Alexandra Sifferlin Jun 7, 2016 3:00 PM UTC The number of Americans who are [overweight or obese](http://time.com/3929990/americans-overweight-obese/) continues to reach shocking highs, with [some estimates](http://time.com/3929990/americans-overweight-obese/) that more than two-thirds of American adults are now overweight or obese. Now, a [new study](http://jama.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?doi=10.1001/jama.2016.6458) reveals that while obesity rates in men have plateaued, rates have continued to rise among women. The [study](http://jama.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?doi=10.1001/jama.2016.6458), published Tuesday in the journal _JAMA,_ reveals that for the years 2013-2014, the obesity prevalence was 35% for men and 40% for women. When looking at trends over time, the researchers found that from the year 2005 to 2014 there were significant and steady increases in the number of American women who were very obese. [Another study](http://jama.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?doi=10.1001/jama.2016.6361) also published Tuesday in _JAMA_ by many of the same researchers revealed that over the last 25 years, there has been a slight increase in obesity among young people ages 12 to 19\. The prevalence of obesity among kids ages 2 to 5 has gone down, and it has leveled off in kids ages 6 to 11. “The obesity epidemic in the United States is now three decades old, and huge investments have been made in research, clinical care, and development of various programs to counteract obesity. However, few data suggest the epidemic is diminishing,” Dr. Jody W. Zylke, the deputy editor of _JAMA_ and Dr. Howard Bauchner, the Editor in Chief of _JAMA,_ wrote in a [corresponding editorial](http://jama.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?doi=10.1001/jama.2016.6190). To reach the findings, study authors from the National Center for Health Statistics at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) looked at 2013-2014 data for 2,638 adult men and 2,817 adult women. They also looked at national survey data from 21,013 people who were interviewed from 2005 through 2012. The number of adults with a body mass index (BMI) of 40 or higher, which is considered high-risk obesity, was 7.7%. For men specifically it was 5.5% and for women it was 9.9%. BMI is not a perfect measure of health and is based on a person’s weight and height ratio rather than their actual amount of body fat. Still, the numbers are in line with what [other studies](http://time.com/4042605/adult-obesity-rates/) have reported regarding the state of the obesity epidemic in the United States. In the editorial, Zylke and Bauchner argue that progress over the last 30 years has been far too slow, and that new methods may need to be adopted: “Perhaps it is time for an entirely different approach, one that emphasizes collaboration with the food and restaurant industries that are in part responsible for putting food on dinner tables,” they write. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4359637/obesity-americans-women-men/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4359637/obesity-americans-women-men/"},"headline":"40% of U.S. Women Are Now Obese","datePublished":"2016-06-07T15:00:50.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T22:26:13.367Z","description":"New numbers show obesity in the United States are high, especially among women","url":"https://time.com/4359637/obesity-americans-women-men/","keywords":["Obesity","women","overweight","weight","Americans","obese"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt911a2d714bb15214/6987789d55a85942a4a85200/health-weight-scale-1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Alexandra Sifferlin","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt911a2d714bb15214/6987789d55a85942a4a85200/health-weight-scale-1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"TIME.com stock photos Weight Loss Health Exercise Scale","caption":"TIME.com stock photos Weight Loss Health Exercise Scale","creditText":"Elizabeth Renstrom for TIME","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/tag/obesity/","name":"Obesity"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4359637/obesity-americans-women-men/","name":"40% of U.S. Women Are Now Obese"}}]}] ```