I would like help in finding the obesity rate in the US from 1900 to
the present.  I have tabular data for the later part of the 20th
century at the AOA (http://www.obesity.org/subs/fastfacts/obesity_US.shtml),
but need time series data going back to 1900 in tabular or graph form.

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Request for Question Clarification by bobbie7-ga on 19 Apr 2006 13:06 PDT

cls3277,

This is all I was able to uncover. Please let me know what you think.

Bobbie7



Figure 2: Age-specific prevalence of obesity (BMI ? 30) for 1865-1879,
5-year intervals from 1880 to 1909, and 1910-1920. (Page 6)


Figure 1: Age-specific prevalence of obesity (BMI ? 30) in 1880-1900
(Union Army sample) and 1988-
1994 (NHANES III) for non-Hispanic white men, United States. Sources:
Flegal et al. (1998); Fogel (1999), author?s calculations. (Page 5)

Source: 
?Can Structural Change Explain the Rise in Obesity?
A Look at the Past 100 Years?
Department of Economics
The University of Chicago
http://www.spc.uchicago.edu/prc/pdfs/helmch01.pdf


U.S. Obesity Rates 1960-2000
http://www.nutritioncrashcourse.com/Obesity-Rates-US-Chart.jpg

U.S. Obesity Rates 1960-2000
http://faculty.washington.edu/kepeter/119/images/cholesterol_obesity_rates.jpg

U.S. Obesity Rates 1960-2000
http://www.postgradmed.com/issues/2003/12_03/bray2.gif

CDC 1994-2003
http://www.cdc.gov/diabetes/Statistics/comp/fig7.gif

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Clarification of Question by cls3277-ga on 19 Apr 2006 14:57 PDT

Would prefer to have the answer from 2000, but if you post as an
answer I will give you credit.

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Clarification of Question by cls3277-ga on 19 Apr 2006 14:57 PDT

Meant to say would prefer to have data from 1900 to 2000.

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Request for Question Clarification by bobbie7-ga on 19 Apr 2006 15:22 PDT

<Would prefer to have the answer from 1900-2000, but if you post as an
answer I will give you credit.>


Cls3277,

I'll try once more to find additional figures and if I don't I'll post
my previous findings as your official answer.

Thank you, 
Bobbie7

Cls3277,

I resumed my search and found the following figures: 

Figure 5.2 (page 11)
The Obesity Epidemic 1959-2002: Evidence of a Period-Level Trend. 
Data comes from the NHANES data collection: 1959-1962, 1971-1975,
1976-1980, 1988-1994, 1999-2002.
http://paa2005.princeton.edu/download.aspx?submissionId=51591

Prevalence of Obesity United States 1990-2006
http://www.unitedhealthfoundation.org/shr2005/images/obesity05.gif

Prevalence of Obesity 
United States and West Virginia 1990-2000
http://www.wvdhhr.org/bph/oehp/obesity/graphics/figure1.gif 




Below you will find the previous numbers.

Figure 2: Age-specific prevalence of obesity (BMI ? 30) for 1865-1879,
5-year intervals from 1880 to 1909, and 1910-1920. (Page 6)


Figure 1: Age-specific prevalence of obesity (BMI ? 30) in 1880-1900
(Union Army sample) and 1988-
1994 (NHANES III) for non-Hispanic white men, United States. Sources:
Flegal et al. (1998); Fogel (1999), author?s calculations. (Page 5)

Source: 
?Can Structural Change Explain the Rise in Obesity?
A Look at the Past 100 Years?
Department of Economics
The University of Chicago
http://www.spc.uchicago.edu/prc/pdfs/helmch01.pdf


U.S. Obesity Rates 1960-2000
http://www.nutritioncrashcourse.com/Obesity-Rates-US-Chart.jpg

U.S. Obesity Rates 1960-2000
http://faculty.washington.edu/kepeter/119/images/cholesterol_obesity_rates.jpg

U.S. Obesity Rates 1960-2000
http://www.postgradmed.com/issues/2003/12_03/bray2.gif

CDC 1994-2003
http://www.cdc.gov/diabetes/Statistics/comp/fig7.gif



Search terms:
Obesity rates 1900-2000
Obesity 1900 1910 1920 1930 1980 1990
Obesity in the United States + trends

I hope this helps!

Best regards, 
Bobbie7

Thank you