Over Two-Thirds of Americans Are Either Obese & Overweight, New Study Reveals

The U.S. obesity epidemic has been on the rise for the past 20 years and a new study has shown that seven in 10 Americans are either obese or overweight.

The statistics published in JAMA Internal Medicine showed that 75 percent of men and 67 percent of women, ages 25 and above, are now either overweight or obese. The unhealthy weight trend has been ballooning more than 10 percent since the 1990s.

In comparison to 20 years ago, there were only 63 percent of men and 55 percent of women in the United States who were overweight or obese. The survey also surprisingly shows that there are currently more obese people right now than those who are overweight.

For the study, researchers from St Louis' Washington University School of Medicine analyzed  information from more than 15,000 men and women aged 25 and above. The data was collected between 2007 to 2012 for the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

America's obesity problem has become an epidemic and experts are concerned about the trend.

"We see this as a wake-up call to implement policies and practices designed to combat overweight and obesity, to implement what we already know into place to accelerate the obesity prevention and treatment," Lin Yang, researcher at Washington University School of Medicine told CBS. "Population-based strategies may help to alter the obesity trend through physical environment interventions, enhancing primary care efforts, and shifting society norms of behavior."

While food and diet is a great contributor of weight gain, the need for affordable food needs to be addressed first and foremost. Yang suggests changes in policies and more effort in individuals to pursue healthier lifestyles such as walking up or down the stairs instead of relying on elevators. She also suggested more bike lanes and other facilities that encourage physical activity should be added in cities.

Another health expert, Dr. Mitchell Roslin, of New York's Lenox Hill Hospital, who is not involved in the survey, expressed his concerns about the unhealthy weight trend among younger people.

"This generation is not going to outlive its predecessor, and that's pretty amazing," Dr. Roslin said. "Obesity is going to pass cigarette smoking as the leading cause of cancer deaths in the U.S."

A Body Mass Index (BMI) of 18.5 to 24.9 is considered to be normal or healthy. BMI that is between 25 to 29.9 is considered overweight and BMI above 30 is considered obese, according to the CDC.