Obesity is high and holding steady in the U.S. About 4 in 10 Americans have obesity overall and about 1 in 10 have severe obesity.

Obesity can be harmful to our health in many ways, but a new study suggests it may be most taxing on the heart.

The Cleveland Clinic Children’s Hospital released a study that compared the benefits of three different types of diets for children who are obese.

One recent study compared the benefits of three different types of diets for children who are obese, and uncovered positive results and a surprising challenge.

New research shows which of those patients are at the highest risk for developing serious complications. Overall, three medical conditions significantly increased the risk of death: obesity, hypertension and diabetes. In particular, morbid obesity and hypertension more than doubled the risk of death, and the effect was additive. Essentially, having any of these three conditions raised a person’s risk from that of a young person to a middle-aged person. The same study found that 10% of young adults sick enough to be hospitalized with COVID-19 required a ventilator.

NEW YORK In the early days of the pandemic, doctors noticed something about the people severely ill from COVID-19: Many were obese. But there's some evidence that obesity itself can increase the likelihood of serious complications from a coronavirus infection. The increased risk for serious COVID-19 illness appears more pronounced with extreme obesity, or a BMI of 40 or higher. One study found an increased risk for death from COVID-19 for people with severe obesity, but only among men. They need a machine to help just do the work, said Dr. David Kass of Baltimore's Johns Hopkins University, who has co-authored a study on obesity and severe COVID-19 illness.

Now pediatricians are concerned it could make the ongoing problem of childhood obesity even worse. Tonight they are offering parents a formula to get kids back on track. We know that weight in kids is affected by everything from diet and activity to also sleep and stress, said Hernandez. Dr. Hernandez says parents can use the 9-5-2-1-almost none formula to help reestablish a healthy routine. A new survey finds 41 percent of parents say theyre snacking more often.