Forty-five percent of teenagers in the United States are overweight or obese.
Posted by The Joe Rogan Experience, Checked
- Sources
- 4 contradict2 context
- Said
- 1 time·
- Confidence
- 65%
The Joe Rogan ExperienceNov 6, 2026
The claim's 45% figure exceeds every recorded estimate of overweight-or-obese U.S. teens: JAMA Network Open data reported via VUMC and HealthDay put it at about 38.5–39% for adolescents and young adults, and the high-school survey data implies roughly 31%.
This claim is about the present, so it is judged as of the day it was checked.
What was said
… It's, it's the biggest issue in the country, and it's directly from incentives. You know, this is what was so popular. This is what's still popular. You know, Republicans, we believe in free choice, but when 38% of kids have pre-diabetes, 45% of teens are overweight or obese, 20% of young adults have fatty liver disease, almost 80% of American adults are obese or overweight, we're beyond a personal choice issue. We have a systemic breakdown, and it's obvious. We have SNAP that's 15% of Americans depend on. …
The Joe Rogan Experience · · from the transcriptPost →What we found
Contradicts. A large JAMA Network Open study of more than 6 million youths reports about 39% of teenagers and young adults are overweight or obese, which is well below 45%.[4][5]
Contradicts. Youth Risk Behavior Survey data from 2013–2023 gives 15.9% obesity and 14.7% overweight among high school students, a combined figure near 31%, well short of 45%.[1][2]
Context. NHANES 2017–2018 data reports 16.1% of ages 2–19 overweight and 19.3% with obesity, and 21.2% obesity among ages 12–19; none of these measures reaches 45% for teens.[3]
Context. A 2026 Oklahoma Watch fact-check found a similar inflated youth obesity claim unsupported by CDC figures (22.9% of adolescents obese), reinforcing that the record shows lower prevalence than the claim.[6]
Sources
6 sources: 3 primary, 3 not rated
- 1FAU | FAU Study Finds Concerning Rise in U.S. Teen Obesity ...fau.edu · primary source · cited for: contradicts
- 2Trends in Obesity, Overweight, and Attempted Weight Loss ...pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov · primary source · cited for: contradicts
- 3Overweight & Obesity Statistics - NIDDKniddk.nih.gov · primary source · cited for: context
- 4One In Five U.S. Children Are Obese, Study Says - HealthDayhealthday.com · not rated · cited for: contradicts
- 5Prevalence of US youth who are overweight or obese raises concerns: Studyvumc.org · not rated · cited for: contradicts
- 6Are 50% of teens in America obese, as Rep. Brecheen claimed?oklahomawatch.org · not rated · cited for: context
Where this claim was made
Said in 1 published post
Related claims
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