Sizing Up America: Signs of Expansion From Head to Toe
For the first time since World War II, a national survey has sized up the average American body, not just by weight and height or even the standard chest-waist-hip routine, but in more than 240 measurements tip to toe.
The results confirm what other statistics have shown: that Americans have grown. In their sheer detail, the measurements also show just how and where — an intimate portrait of the national body with all its Lycra-ed love handles, sucked-in stomachs and fashionably disguised spare tires.
The survey — called SizeUSA and sponsored by clothing and textile companies, the Army, Navy and several universities — measured more than 10,000 people in 13 cities nationwide using a light-pulsing 3-D scanner.
The article is chock-full of stats outlining just how fat the average American is. While I have little doubt that obesity is rampant–the evidence is everywhere–I’m a bit skeptical that the average woman is now a size 14. Also, given that the last study was in 1941, a lot of the variation is explained by better nutrition; Americans are much taller and muscular than they were 60 years ago.
