Miniature pig “Nueffel” is walked in a park in Hanover, Germany, 14 April 2016. (Photo by Sebastian Gollnow/EPA)

A participant dressed as a mermaid goes to swim in the beach after taking part in the Annual Mermaid Parade in Brooklyn, New York, June 18, 2016. The annual parade, founded in 1983, seeks to bring mythology to life for residents, create confidence in the district and to allow artistic self-expression in public, according to the parade's website. (Photo by Eduardo Munoz/Reuters)

A goat begs for food as people have a meal and beer at the Beichelstein-Alpe outdoor restaurant near Seeg, southern Germany, on March 27, 2017. (Photo by Karl-Josef Hildenbrand/AFP Photo/DPA)

Veiled Thai women take a selfie on the Talo Kapo beach enjoying Eid al-Fitr on June 5, 2019 in Pattani, Thailand. Today is Eid al-Fitr, or Festival of Breaking the Fast, which marks the end of Ramadan, the Islamic holy month of fasting. (Photo by Paula Bronstein/Getty Images)

Actress Ruby Rose, left, recipient of the Stephen F. Kolzak Award, hands her jacket to presenter Taylor Swift during the 27th Annual GLAAD Media Awards at the Beverly Hilton on Saturday, April 2, 2016, in Beverly Hills, Calif. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP Photo)

Elizabeth Hurley (L) and Nicole Scherzinger serve dinner at the BOVET 1822 Brilliant is Beautiful Gala benefitting Artists for Peace and Justice's Global Education Fund for Women and Girls at Claridge's Hotel on December 1, 2017 in London, England. (Photo by Vianney Le Caer/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

“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)