Report: More Americans on diets from a decade ago

NEWYORK » A higher percentage of Americans said they’re on a special diet to lose weight or for other health reasons compared with a decade ago, according to a report Tuesday by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The increase comes as obesity rates have continued to climb. The CDC report found that 17% of Americans said they were on diets during the 2017-2018 survey period, up from14% a decade earlier. Over the same period obesity rates rose in the U.S. to 42% of Americans, up from 34%.

The percentage of Americans who said they’re on a diet is lower than expected given prevalence of diet-related diseases in the country, said Dana Hunnes, a professor of public health and nutrition at the University of California, Los Angeles.

The report notes that about half of American adults have diet-related chronic conditions, such as diabetes and heart disease, and that special diets are a way many people try to manage them.