Huh? Half of US Adults Will Be Obese by 2030

Half of U.S. adults will be obese by 2030 if current trends continue. About one in three adults in the U.S. are obese today. With those numbers will likely come higher rates of chronic diseases including diabetes, heart disease, arthritis, and some types of cancer. This statistic highlighted a special obesity edition of the The Lancet.

Here is one way we can guarantee that half of US adults will be obese, maybe even before 2030:

Half of Americans drink a soda or sugary beverage each day - and some are downing a lot. One in 20 people drinks the equivalent of more than four cans of soda each day. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released the figures in a report said to be the government's first to offer national statistics for both adults and kids.

• About half the population drinks a sugared beverage each day.
• Males consume more than females, with teenage boys leading the pack. On average, males ages 12 through 19 drink the equivalent of nearly two cans of soda each day.
  
• Poor people drink more than the more affluent. Low-income adults got about 9 percent of their daily calories from sugary beverages; for high-income adults it was just over 4 percent.
  
• Blacks get more of their calories from sweetened beverages than other racial and ethnic groups.
• More than half of the drinks are consumed at home. Less than 1 percent are bought at schools or day-care centers.
  

Diet sodas, sweetened teas, flavored milks and 100 percent fruit juice did not count.