According to Cancer Research UK, more than 7 in 10 millennials (those born between 1981 and 1996) will be obese by the time they reach middle age, making them one of the heaviest generations in history.
“This isn’t a surprise if you globally look at obesity rates and when the prevalence really started to increase,” Dr. Rekha B. Kumar, medical director of the American Board of Obesity Medicine and assistant professor of medicine at Weill Cornell Medicine, told Healthline.
“The average body weight in the 1960s compared to what it was in the 80s, to what it is now, shows a significant rise in the prevalence of obesity in the 80s, when the millennial generation started to be born.”
The stats tell a story, but what could be fueling the trend in millennials? There are several contributing factors.