“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)

Children's author and charity fundraiser Chris Green, of Embsay, near Skipton, has been dubbed “Rhino Boy” as he has pledged to run 40 marathons and other events dressed as a Rhino to raise money for Save the Rhino on January 2020. (Photo by South West News Service/Yorkshire Post)

A kid casts his hand's shadow as kids play with light in “L'art dans la nature, Dali universe” an open air light show at Parc de la Villette in Paris, France on November 19, 2023. (Photo by Gonzalo Fuentes/Reuters)

Switzerland's Lea Sprunger in action during the 300m hurdles race during the Weltklasse Zurich Inspiration Games, a virtual international athletics meeting with 30 athletes in eight disciplines at seven venues worldwide, in the Letzigrund stadium in Zurich, Switzerland, Thursday, July 9, 2020. (Photo by Arnd Wiegmann/Reuters)

Commuters ride on the roof of a Jakarta state rail train at Cawang train station on January 27, 2012 in Jakarta, Indonesia. (Photo by Ulet Ifansasti/Getty Images)

A fighting bull loses its balance during the third day of the San Fermin running-of-the-bulls on July 8, 2011 in Pamplona, Spain. Pamplona's famous Fiesta de San Fermin, which involves the running of the bulls through the historic heart of Pamplona for eight days starting July 7th, was made famous by the 1926 novel of U.S. writer Ernest Hemmingway called “The Sun Also Rises”. (Photo by Denis Doyle/Getty Images)

2016 Rio Olympics, Weightlifting, Final, Women's 63kg, Riocentro, Pavilion 2, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on August 9, 2016. Marina Rodriguez (CUB) of Cuba competes. (Photo by Stoyan Nenov/Reuters)

Lindsey Vonn of USA wins the bronze medal during the FIS World Ski Championships Women's Downhill on February 10, 2019 in Are Sweden. (Photo by Leonhard Foeger/Reuters)