1/07Estimated number of gallons of extra gasoline burned each year because Americans are overweight: 938,000,000

Sheldon H. Jacobson, University of Illinois (Urbana)

4/06Number of dogs that a California clinic trained to diagnose cancer by sniffing patients’ breath: 5

Nicholas Broffman, Pine Street Foundation (San Anselmo, Calif.)

    Percentage of lung- and breast-cancer cases that they accurately detect, respectively: 99, 88

Nicholas Broffman, Pine Street Foundation (San Anselmo, Calif.)

5/95Year in which, at the current rate of increase, all Americans will be overweight: 2059

National Center for Health Statistics (Hyattsville, Md.)

8/05Estimated total number of tons by which American adults are overweight: 1,180,000

Harper’s research

4/06Percentage of U.S. adults in 1985 who said they found overweight people less attractive than others: 55

NPD Group (Port Washington, N.Y.)

    Percentage who said this last year: 24

NPD Group (Port Washington, N.Y.)