More Americans Are on Diet From a Decade Ago, Says CDC

CDC found that more Americans are on a diet these days compared to a decade ago.

According to a report of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Tuesday, a higher percentage of Americans said they are on a special diet to lose weight or because of other reasons.

Fox News reported that the increase of people who went on a diet came as obesity rates continued to climb. The CDC report revealed that 17% of Americans said they were on a diet amid the 2017-2018 survey period, a 14% rate only from a decade earlier.

Meanwhile, obesity rates rose over the same period in the U.S.to, 42% of Americans from 34% earlier. The percentages of on a diet Americans are lower than expected given the rate of diet-related illnesses in the nation, said Dana Hunnes, a public nutrition professor at the University of Los Angeles, California.

Almost half of the American adults have diet-related chronic diseases, such as heart disease, diabetes, the report noted. Besides, special diets are away for several individuals to try to manage them. However, Hunnes warned that many people might not consider how they eat to be a diet.

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The report also looked at responses in 2015 and 2018 to identify other characteristics of people's special diets:

• More women are reported being on a diet than men.
• 15% of Black and Asian Americans, 16% of Hispanic Americans, and 18% of non-Hispanic White Americans said they were diets.
• The more educated and heavier people were, the more they reported being on a special diet. The report found 8% of average weight or underweight people, and 17% of overweight people than 23% of Americans who are obese said they were on diets.
• A higher percentage of people aged 40 and above said they were on diets than those ages 20-39.
• Diets described as "weight loss or low calorie" grew in popularity between 2007-08 and 2017-18. It also remained the top category of a special diet. Low-fat and low-cholesterol saw a decline, while low-carbohydrate diets became popular.

An ongoing national survey is where the findings based in which participants were given a question: "Are you currently on any kind of diet, either to lose weight or for some other health-related reason?"

A senior program officer and registered dietitian at Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future, Becky Ramsing, said that people's dietary changes in hopes of losing weight could vary greatly. Ramsing added that people might not understand why people's diet choices aren't leading to weight loss.

According to the LA Times, Ramsing noted that many diet trends often focus on banning specific foods, but people should consider their overall eating patterns to make lasting changes.

Read also: Common Reasons for Drastic Diet Changes