American Waistlines Continue to Grow - East Idaho News

American Waistlines Continue to Grow

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gettY 091714 waistlines?  SQUARESPACE CACHEVERSION=1410951032556iStock/Thinkstock(ATLANTA) — In this era of triple bacon cheeseburgers, 48-ounce sodas and double-stuffed-crust pizzas, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that American waistlines are getting bigger.

According to a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, the average American waist size increased more than an inch — from 37.6 inches to 38.8 inches — between 1999 and 2012.

U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention researchers studied 32,816 men and women ages 20 and older and found that while men’s waists increased less than an inch — about 0.8 of an inch on average — women’s midriffs grew about twice that, or 1.5 inches.

Waistlines larger than 35 inches for women and more than 40 inches for men are considered abdominal obesity.

Based on their waist circumference, 54 percent of Americans were abdominally obese in 2012, up from 46 percent 13 years earlier.

Abdominal obesity is linked to an increased risk of heart disease, diabetes and high cholesterol.


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