A boy and a woman run across a railway track as a train approaches in Chengdu, Sichuan province, China, October 8, 2015. Many residents disregard sign prohibiting this kind of illegal crossing and choose to do so to save time, local media reported. (Photo by Hao Fei/Reuters/Western China Metropolis Daily)

A student gets off a police vehicle which carried her to a high school to arrive in time for a college entrance exam in Seoul, South Korea, Thursday, November 18, 2021. About 510,000 high school seniors and graduates across the country are expected to take the College Scholastic Ability Test. (Photo by Ahn Young-joon/AP Photo)

Bathers brave the cold waters of the North Sea as they take part in the annual Boxing Day dip at Redcar Beach on December 26, 2019 in Redcar, England. The event attracts hundreds of people each year who take to the cold water wearing fancy dress as they help to raise money for a number of charities. (Photo by James Glossop/The Times)

These two ladies received some important messages on Valentine's night in Manchester, England on February 14, 2020. Brits celebrated Valentine's Day in style last night – proving you can have a good time even if you don't have a partner. (Photo by Mercury Press/The Sun)

A mobile phone showing the time at noon, is displayed for a photo in front of an almost empty road with low traffic, during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, in Wuhan, Hubei province, China, March 31, 2020. (Photo by Aly Song/Reuters)

After a long time renovation project, the old town in Taiyuan city which was founded in 1357, finally lights up and opens to public in Taiyuan City, north China's Shanxi Province, 23 November 2020. (Photo by Rex Features/Shutterstock)

A worker works on a “Transformers” replica on the outskirts of Shanghai, June 18, 2014. Li Lei, owner of a small factory, uses his spare time and money to build “Transformers” replicas for rent or sale. The new Transformers movie, which is premiering later this month, has brought the factory many new orders, according to Li. (Photo by Aly Song/Reuters)

“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)