Culture
Americans' Waistlines Are Growing Ever Larger
Possible reasons include sleep deprivation and medication, says a new study.
Streeeettcchhh... that's the sound of the nation's stomach expanding. Americans are now more than an inch fatter around the waist on average than they were in the late '90s, though among certain demographics the increase has been nearly twice that.
The waist circumference of American citizens in 1999 and 2000 averaged 37.6 inches, according to a new study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and others. By 2011 and 2012, it had swelled to 38.8 inches. That almost qualifies for the medical definition of abdominal obesity for men (a waist circumference of greater than 40.2 inches) and exceeds it for women (34.6 inches).