Share on Pinterest Seventy percent of millennials could be obese by the time they hit middle age. Getty Images 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.



Our food supply has become processed During the 1980s, Kumar says processed foods started to pack the grocery aisles. “That was the age when we didn’t really know how bad added sugars were and when the public craze was about eating low fat, higher carb, added sugar foods,” Kumar said. She explained that many processed foods during the 80s had a high glycemic index, meaning they increased blood sugar and stimulated the hormone insulin, which is implicated in rising obesity rates. “When someone eats a high carbohydrate meal versus a high protein or high fat meal, their blood sugar can rise. For example, if you eat cereal for breakfast, you’ll have a higher rise in blood sugar than if you eat eggs for breakfast.” The rise in blood sugar occurs because insulin is produced to process the sugar. “When you have elevated insulin levels for prolonged periods, as someone who eats a lot of processed carbohydrates or any carbohydrates would, that is a precursor to developing obesity,” explained Kumar.

Life becomes more fast-paced Natalie Sexton, holistic health coach and namesake of Natalie’s Orchid Island Juice Company, understands the impact processed foods has on obesity, but she says millennials are more educated about food, nutrition, and food transparency than generations before. She believes processed foods are desirable because of the fast-paced lifestyle millennials were born into. “I think millennials drive brands like mine to make better food because they want better food for themselves. But they’re not willing to have the patience to grocery shop, cook at home, and prepare their own meals so that they’re cleaner. They want to purchase foods that are already made or that they can get quickly,” Sexton told Healthline. She says this has to do with the millennial mentality of instant gratification. “There’s so much at the tips of our fingers that it can be overwhelming,” Sexton said. Kumar agrees. “We can get from point A to point B so quickly and work around the clock and have access to a constant flow of information, so with all that access people sleep less than they did 50 years ago, which has an implication on body weight regulation,” Kumar said. And access to more food in itself may perpetuate emotional eating, she adds. “Historically, there has always been people that have a tendency to do emotional eating or binge eating or stress eating. It is somewhat related to how people are programmed in the brain. There are certain pleasure pathways that are triggered by eating food,” Kumar said. “But when food is more readily available, and more processed than it was in the past, you’re more likely to gain weight if you emotionally eat today then if you were emotional eating 60 years ago.”

Technology makes a surge Both Kumar and Sexton say devices and screens play a part in obesity among millennials. They also think screens contribute to The New England Journal of Medicine’s report that more than half of today’s children will be obese by the time they’re 35 years old. “Older millennials were raised when technology wasn’t hugely prevalent in the beginning of their lives. They had to go outside and play in the yard. They didn’t have access to iPads and iPods. They got access to more technology in their late teens and certainly many allowed that to overwhelm them, but they still had an understanding of a time when going outside and being active was promoted,” Sexton said. As an older millennial with a 2-year-old daughter, Sexton sees firsthand how easy it is to pacify children with a device. “We don’t want to put up with their temper tantrums or them inconveniencing our meal, so we throw the iPad in their face. From a young age they are given things that make them sit there, be silent, watch a screen and really encourage being sedentary,” Sexton said. As far as social media goes, Kumar doesn’t believe seeing food on Instagram and other outlets is to blame for obesity. “Looking at food on these is really the same as when we looked at food in magazines or on TV cooking shows in the 80s and 90s. Millennials will go to Instagram to see where and what they want to eat and I don’t think it’s making people obese or making them binge or emotional eat. It’s just the way we get information that’s changed,” said Kumar. However, Sexton says social media may have a deeper impact on people’s eating habits. “I don’t think social media is the main driver to obesity. I do think it perpetuates the experience of trying to compare yourself with other people on a regular basis and that can ultimately have an emotional impact on human beings,” she said.