Obesity in the U.S. military surged during the pandemic, according to new research.
The research led by the Center for Health Services Research at the Uniformed Services University found nearly 10,000 active-duty Army soldiers became obese during the pandemic, marked as from February 2019 to June 2021.
The number pushed the military obesity rate to nearly a quarter of the troops studied, with increases found in the Navy and the Marines, according to the Associated Press.
Koehlmoos says more-recent data won’t be available until later this year, but there’s no sign that the trend is ending.