Without immediate action, nearly 260 million people in the US predicted to be overweight or obese by 2050

Study predicts devastating trends at the population level.

Number of US children and adolescents with overweight and obesity is expected to reach 43.1 million by 2050 .

Over 260 million people in the U.S. expected to be living with overweight or obesity by 2050 ( an additional 6.74 million from 2021 ), and the number of adults 213 million .

In 2021 , an estimated 15.1 million children and young adolescents and 21.4 million older adolescents were living with overweight or obesity.

New analysis estimates that older adolescent obesity prevalence rose substantially in the U.S. between 1990 and 2021 , more than doubling in both males (from 8.8% to 22.7% ) and females (from 10.1% to 28.8% ).

The study uses the best available data, but predictions are constrained by the quality and availability of data.

The definition of overweight and obesity is based on BMI , which might not account for variations in body structure across the population.

Past trends are not always predictive of what will happen in the future, and some factors, like the use of GLP-1 anti-obesity medications could alter the longer-term forecasting trends.