Nearly Half of Americans Gained Weight in Pandemic's First Year

WEDNESDAY, Jan. 19, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- Did you ticker your waistline grow during lockdown? You're not alone.

Nearly fractional of U.S. adults piled connected excess pounds during the archetypal twelvemonth of the pandemic, making a nationalist obesity situation adjacent worse, a caller survey shows.

"Obesity was an epidemic earlier the pandemic, and small was known connected body weight changes successful the past twelvemonth for big Americans," said pb researcher Jagdish Khubchandani, a nationalist wellness prof astatine New Mexico State University. "We wanted to estimation value changes successful the U.S. colonisation and its determinants aft the archetypal twelvemonth of the pandemic."

To bash that, Khubchandani and his colleagues surveyed much than 3,400 adults and recovered that 48% said they gained value during the archetypal 12 months of the pandemic — March 2020 to April 2021.

Those who reported weight gain were much apt to beryllium male, achromatic oregon Hispanic, married, aged 45 oregon older, person a full-time job, person little than a assemblage education, and to unrecorded successful confederate and occidental states oregon agrarian areas.

The researchers besides recovered that radical were much apt to person gained value if they were overweight earlier the pandemic (just implicit 2 times much likely), had children astatine location (1.39 times), had depression oregon anxiousness (1.25 times), oregon checked assemblage value wrong the past six months (1.32 times).

The survey was published successful the January contented of the diary Diabetes and Metabolic Syndrome: Clinical Research and Reviews.

The uncovering that value summation was much apt among definite groups already susceptible to poorer wellness outcomes is concerning, Khubchandani said.

The pandemic whitethorn widen existing wellness disparities and summation the chronic illness load for immoderate groups, helium explained.

"It's a cleanable wellness storm," Khubchandani said successful a assemblage quality release. "The U.S. consists of an big colonisation wherever the bulk endure from a chronic disease, are either overweight oregon obese, bash not conscionable the physical activity guidelines, oregon person unhealthy eating patterns with little depletion of fruits and vegetables."

A erstwhile New Mexico State University survey recovered that the pandemic fueled stress-related unhealthy eating habits successful Americans.

"Our survey relates to a batch of nationalist trends indicating precocious accent successful immoderate groups specified arsenic parents, indispensable workers, and those with constricted incomes and little education," Khubchandani said. "Even earlier the pandemic, stress was a large determinant of unhealthy lifestyles successful big Americans, and the occupation continues to worsen for definite groups."

More information

The American Psychological Association has much connected the COVID-19 pandemic and value gain.