Study: Dramatic Increase in Percentage of US Adults Who Meet New Definition of Obesity

Dr. Joseph Mercola - Take Control of Your Health

Briana Mercola

Health & Fitness, Alternative Health

4.6 • 1.5K Ratings

🗓️ 9 December 2025

⏱️ 8 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Nearly 70% of U.S. adults now qualify as obese under a new definition that goes beyond body mass index (BMI) to include waist and hip measurements, exposing millions with hidden fat linked to higher disease risk
The new standard, developed by an international panel and endorsed by dozens of medical organizations, identifies both clinical obesity — where fat is already harming organs — and preclinical obesity, where fat-driven dysfunction is just beginning
Using the expanded criteria, researchers found a 60% surge in obesity prevalence, revealing that about 1 in 4 adults were reclassified as obese — mostly from the overweight group — while roughly 1 in 17 with a "normal" BMI carried hidden visceral fat that raises the risk for diabetes, heart disease, and early death
BMI alone fails to distinguish between fat and muscle or between safe subcutaneous fat and harmful visceral fat, meaning many healthy people are misclassified while those at real metabolic risk go undiagnosed
Measuring your waist-to-hip or waist-to-height ratio provides a far clearer picture of your metabolic health, empowering you to take early action — through healthy eating, reduced toxin exposure, and daily movement — to restore energy and prevent chronic disease

Transcript

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0:00.0	Could you be classified as obese, even if your BMI looks normal and your weight hasn't changed in years?
0:06.4	Welcome to Dr. Mercola's cellular wisdom.
0:09.2	Stay informed with quick, easy-to-listen summaries of our latest articles, perfect for when you're on the go.
0:14.6	No reading required.
0:15.9	Subscribe for free atmercola.com for the latest health insights.
0:20.3	Hello, and welcome to Dr. Mercola's cellular wisdom.
0:23.9	I'm Ethan Foster, and today we're focusing on a new definition of obesity
0:28.3	that adds waste and hip measurements to BMI and reveals hidden metabolic risk.
0:33.3	You'll hear what to measure, how to interpret it, and practical steps you can take to restore cellular energy.
0:39.6	I'm Alara Sky.
0:41.7	This shift matters because under the expanded criteria, nearly 70% of U.S. adults qualify as obese,
0:49.4	compared with about 43% by BMI alone.
0:53.2	That 60% jump comes from people with normal or overweight BMI
0:58.0	who still carry excess central fat.
1:01.0	Many look lean, but develop early metabolic dysfunction
1:04.0	that quietly raises the risk for diabetes and heart disease.
1:08.0	The updated framework distinguishes two stages. preclinical obesity where fat-driven
1:13.5	dysfunction has begun, and clinical obesity, where organs are already affected.
1:19.0	In a large U.S. cohort of more than 300,000 adults, clinical obesity was linked to over six-fold
1:25.1	higher diabetes risk and nearly six-fold higher cardiovascular events.
1:30.6	Even pre-clinical obesity carried roughly triple the diabetes risk,
1:34.5	which is why earlier detection is so important.
	...

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