“The most serious health problem in the U.S. today is obesity.” Sounds familiar, doesn’t it? But that pronouncement about obesity’s primacy in the hierarchy of national health problems is not new. Rather, it’s the opening line to a remarkable article published 60 years ago in LIFE magazine. This photographs made by Martha Holmes to illustrate that March 1954 article, titled “The Plague of Overweight.” Photo: Dorothy Bradley (left), photographed for LIFE magazine article on obesity, 1949. (Photo by Martha Holmes/Time & Life Pictures)

Waverly Fire's Tell Hanes, left, and Southeast Fire's Trey Wayne, right, jump over freezing water to high five while participating in a Surface Ice rescue technician course on Friday, January 6, 2023, at Holmes Lake Park in Lincoln, Neb. The International Rescue and Relief department at Union college held rescue training course at Holmes Lake for students and local fire departments. (Photo by Kenneth Ferriera/Lincoln Journal Star via AP Photo)

UFC women's bantamweight champion Holly Holm and Miesha Tate face off during the UFC 196 weigh ins at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas on Friday, March 4, 2016. (Photo by L.E. Baskow/Las Vegas Sun via AP Photo)

In this Friday, March 13, 2015, Mitch Seavey's lead dogs with frosty whiskers at the Huslia, Alaska, checkpoint for the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race. (Photo by Loren Holmes/AP Photo/Alaska Dispatch News)

(L-R) Kim Kardashian, Kendall Jenner, American actor and musician Jared Leto and Kylie Jenner attend The 2023 Met Gala Celebrating “Karl Lagerfeld: A Line Of Beauty” at The Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 01, 2023 in New York City. (Photo by Arturo Holmes/MG23/Getty Images for The Met Museum/Vogue)

Spot the baton: the Dutch athlete Femke Bol falls to the ground as Alexis Holmes of the US runs to victory in the mixed 4x400m relay final at the World Athletics Championships in Budapest, Hungary on August 19, 2023. (Photo by Márton Mónus/Reuters)

J.S. Burgers Cafe chef Yasuhito Fukui prepares Mr. and Mrs. Burger featuring the U.S. presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump at the hamburger joint in Tokyo, Japan October 7, 2016. (Photo by Megumi Lim/Reuters)

A chimpanzee bottle-feeds a lamb at Southam Zoo Farm in Warwickshire. The owners of the zoo, Mr and Mrs Clews, bring up many of the animals as their pets; the animals, are, as a result, of a friendly disposition. (Photo by Fox Photos/Getty Images). 23rd August 1968