Heavy Americans

I noticed an interesting news article on Yahoo! News, "Americans Getting Taller, Much Heavier" via AP. There is this graph on the trend.

It's a report on the average weight and height statistics over the past 40 years by National Center for Health Statistics, part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The height didn't change that much (from 5'8 (1.73 m) to 5'9 1/2 (1.77 m) for males (2.2% increase), and from 5'3 (1.60 m) to 5'4 (1.63 m) for females (1.6% increase)). However, the weight increased dramatically: from 166.3 lb (75.6 kg) to 191 lb (86.8 kg) for males (15% increase!!!), and from 140.2 lb (63.7 kg) to 164.3 lb (74.7 kg) for females (17% increase!!!).

And this guy isn't helping the stats.

I really think it has to do with the food portion they are giving out here. No wonder obesity is such an issue these days.