Percentage of severely obese adults skyrockets

USA Today -

The percentage of American adults who are 100 or more pounds over a healthy weight has skyrocketed since 2000, a study released Monday shows.

In 2010, about 6.6% of adults in this country were severely obese -- about 15.5 million people -- up from 3.9% in 2000, says the study from the RAND Corp., a non-profit research group.

"There is no question that severe obesity is going up very fast," says lead author Roland Sturm, a senior economist at RAND. "Severe obesity has severe effects on quality of life, chronic conditions and health care costs."