“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)

French actress Adele Exarchopoulos – Outside arrivals at Christian Dior Womenswear Spring/Summer 2020 fashion show as part of the Paris Fashion Week, in Paris on September, 24, 2019. (Photo by J.M. Haedrich/SIPA Press)

South American sea lion. Valencia, February 8, 2012. (Photo by Ger Art; Source: Flickr)

(L-R) American actresses Meghann Fahy and Haley Lu Richardson attend PEOPLE's post Screen Actors Guild Awards Gala at Fairmont Century Plaza on February 26, 2023 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Kevin Mazur/Getty Images)

Swedish music band ABBA's wax figures are displayed at the ABBA museum in Stockholm, Sweden on November 5, 2021. ABBA's first album in 40 years, “The Voyage”, was released on November 5, 2021. (Photo by Jonathan Nackstrand/AFP Photo)

Filipino students performs during the parade at the 125th Philippine’s Independence Day at Dubai World Trade Centre on June 10, 2023. (Photo by Leslie Pableo for The National)

People go into the Washington Square fountain as they take part in the NYC Dyke March during New York's Pride week LGBTQ+ celebration in New York City, U.S., June 28, 2025. (Photo by Eduardo Munoz/Reuters)

A curious cat ipeeks out of a bag carried by its owner on a tour of the Cat Expo 2022 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 30 September 2022. The “Ekspo Kucing”, described as Malaysia's Largest Cat Expo runs from 30 September to 02 October 2022 at the Matrade Exhibition and Convention Centre (MECC) in Kuala Lumpur and “will also feature other variety of pets such as rabbits, hamsters, guinea pigs, reptiles and exotic animals”, the MECC said on its website, along with other highlight events such as a Federation Internationale Feline (FIFe) Cat Competition, Cat Adoptions or a “Sugar Glinder Contest”. (Photo by Fazry Ismail/EPA/EFE/Rex Features/Shutterstock)