“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 soup for the students is pictured during an activity for the end of the school year at the Padre Jose Maria Velaz school in Caracas, Venezuela July 12, 2016. Due to the faltering socialist economy and the plunge in global oil prices, Venezuela has been in recession since early 2014. Due to the faltering socialist economy and the plunge in global oil prices, Venezuela has been in recession since early 2014. It suffers from the world's highest inflation and is experiencing shortages of basic goods, from milk to medicines. (Photo by Carlos Jasso/Reuters)

A group of Japanese schoolgirls marching in formation during a school visit to the third regiment to experience the soldier's way of life. (Photo by Fox Photos/Getty Images). Circa 1938

A photographer has done her best to guess what her dog is daydreaming about – creating a series of fantasy adventures around her unaware pooch as he takes his daily naps. (Photo by Caters News)

Hucul horses play in the wild meadows and forests near Odrzychowa in southeastern Poland on October 18, 2014. Huculs, a primitive breed of horse, escaped total extinction due to the efforts of scientists and Polish farmers. (Photo by Janek Skarzynski/AFP Photo)

Three Burmese women members of a circus play cards as they wear the brass neck and leg rings traditionally worn by Padaung women since childhood and which cannot be removed, London, January 4, 1935. (Photo by Keystone). P.S. All pictures are presented in high resolution.

People pose for photographs in the wind during Typhoon Saola in Tseung kwan O, in Hong Kong on Saturday, September 2, 2023. Typhoon Saola made landfall in southern China before dawn Saturday after nearly 900,000 people were moved to safety and most of Hong Kong and other parts of coastal southern China suspended business, transport and classes. (Photo by Billy H.C. Kwok/AP Photo)

Visitors take pictures inside Kuala Lumpur Tower's “Sky Box”, one of the city's touristic attractions, in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 05 January 2024. Malaysian Tourism Minister Tiong King Sing recently said that the tourism industry “is not just an engine for economic growth but also a bridge for cultural exchange and international friendship”. (Photo by Fazry Ismail/EPA/EFE)