“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)

A mahout (elephant driver) walks a baby elephant across the city streets at night September 27, 2008 in Bangkok, Thailand. (Photo Paula Bronstein/Getty Images)

Actress Laetitia Casta attends the “The Meyerowitz Stories” screening during the 70th annual Cannes Film Festival at Palais des Festivals on May 21, 2017 in Cannes, France. (Photo by Stephane Mahe/Reuters)

A dog catches a wave during the Surf City Surf Dog Contest in Huntington Beach, California September 27, 2015. (Photo by Lucy Nicholson/Reuters)

A baby bush-baby in a set of scales at London Zoo shortly after birth. (Photo by Fox Photos/Getty Images). 10th August 1938

People play on a beach along the Arabian Sea on a hot summer day in Mumbai, India, April 29, 2016. (Photo by Danish Siddiqui/Reuters)

A woman enjoys the sun at Plaka beach on the Aegean island of Naxos, Greece, Friday, May 14, 2021. Greece launched its tourism season Friday amid a competitive scramble across the Mediterranean to lure vacationers emerging from lockdowns. (Photo by Thanassis Stavrakis/AP Photo)

High angle view of a young woman reading in a bathtub, turning page, enjoying time with herself. Candles and red wine. Valentines day concept, International womans day. (Photo by Vuk Saric/Getty Images)