What to me seem astonishing statistics have been published by the National Center for Health Statistics show that more than 34 percent of Americans are obese, compared to 32.7 percent who are overweight. It said just under 6 percent are "extremely" obese.

But putting these numbers together means that some 72% of American adults are overweight or worse! Only 3 out of every 10 are deemed to be of normal weight. And the percentage of overweight people has been steadily rising over the past 20 years.

These figures are based on calculating the Body Mass Index for every individual. The US national Institutes of Health has an online BMI calculator so you can feed your own anxiety!

Indeed a lot of this may be down to definitions of what constitutes a healthy BMI. I tried the calculator myself and, for my height, I should shed another 5kg to be in the normal category. However, I was down to that weight about a year ago when I was taking some unpleasant medication and everyone thought I looked sick and emaciated. It is therefore important to also think about how well one feels, not just be a slave to the BMI.

Having said that, the US trend of the population getting heavier overall has to be taken seriously. Perhaps these 20 good years have seen over-eating as a sign of feeling good. If the next 20 years are going to be economically leaner then perhaps the average weight will come down. Perhaps!

I don't know the kind of diet the average American eats, but I have always tended to eat fresh food cooked at home. All those 'ready meals' taste crap and are full of additives. The smuggling of wheat, fat, salt and sugar into everything also means that people cannot even taste the fact that their food is unhealthy. This is, of course, a policy of food product manufacturers so that people eat more and buy more. Fat is addictive.

The other thing that sets America apart from, say, Europe, is that American meat has been laden full of growth hormones for decades. These hormones are now having the same growth effects on humans. This even led to a trade dispute - and I cannot remember how or if it was ever resolved - whereby Europe refused to import US beef. This means that even when one thinks one is getting a healthy cut of meat it is impossible for the consumer to know what is really in it. I'm also not sure if the effects of growth hormones can be reversed.

Perhaps starting a diet is too late. Be careful what you eat and what you feed your children, seems to be the only message.

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