Nearly 3 In 4 Americans Are Overweight

Americans keep putting on the pounds, according to a new survey that says nearly three in four are overweight.

The Harris Survey released today found that 71 percent of Americans age 25 and older are overweight, based on a national survey of 1,250 adults.

That suggests a steady climb: Harris polls found 58 percent of Americans were overweight in 1983, 64 percent in 1990 and 69 percent last year.

“It doesn’t surprise me,” Dr. JoAnn E. Manson, an endocrinologist at the Harvard School of Medicine, said Sunday. “Obesity is an alarming epidemic.”

Other studies have found that the average American has gained 8 pounds in the past decade and that 60 percent of Americans can be classified as sedentary, she said.