Researchers predict fat will be the norm by 2015, with 75 percent of U.S. adults overweight and aboout 24 percent of children and adolescents obese if American people keep gaining weight at the current pace.(File Photo)

    BEIJING, July 19 (Xinhuanet) -- Researchers predict fat will be the norm by 2015, with 75 percent of U.S. adults overweight and aboout 24 percent of children and adolescents obese if American people keep gaining weight at the current pace, according to media reports Thursday.

    "Obesity is a public health crisis. If the rate of obesity and overweight continues at this pace, by 2015, 75 percent of adults and nearly 24 percent of U.S. children and adolescents will be overweight or obese," said Dr. Youfa Wang, who led the study at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.

    Researchers reviewed 20 studies published in journals and looked at national surveys of weight and behavior for their analysis, published in the journal Epidemiologic Reviews.

    Studies show that 66 percent of U.S. adults were overweight or obese in 2003 and 2004. An alarming 80 percent of black women aged 40 or over are overweight and 50 percent are obese.

    Sixteen percent of U.S. children and adolescents are overweight and 34 percent are at risk of becoming overweight.

    "Obesity is likely to continue to increase, and if nothing is done, it will soon become the leading preventable cause of death in the United States," said May Beydoun, a member of the study.

    In the study, researchers defined adult overweight and obesity using a standard medical definition called body mass index. People with a BMI of 25 or above are considered overweight, while those with BMI of 30 or above are obese and at serious risk of heart disease, diabetes and some cancers.

    (Agencies)