98% Of Adults Under Age 60 With High BMI Have Excess Adiposity

Among American adults with high body mass index (BMI), 98.4% have excess body fat. When defined by high BMI only, 39.7% of U.S. adults who responded to the 2017–2018 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) had obesity. When using BMI in conjunction with other criteria for excess adiposity confirmation, the prevalence of obesity among the NHANES respondents dropped slightly to 39.1%.

High BMI is defined as a BMI of 30 or higher for most adults, and 27.5 or higher for non-Hispanic Asian individuals. For adults, BMI is calculated by dividing weight in . . .