THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 
              Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Monday, February 5, 1996               TAG: 9602050047
SECTION: FRONT                    PAGE: A8   EDITION: FINAL 
TYPE: Briefs 
DATELINE: NEW YORK                           LENGTH: Short :   28 lines

A HEFTY 74 PERCENT OF AMERICANS ARE TOO HEAVY, POLL SAYS<

Who's ahead in the latest poll? Not dieters.

Seventy-four percent of Americans 25 or older are overweight, up from 71 percent a year ago, 69 percent in 1994, 66 percent in 1992 and only 59 percent 10 years ago, Louis Harris and Associates reported.

The Harris Poll asked 1,005 randomly selected adults about their weight and compared the responses to recommended weight ranges for various heights and body sizes. The company has been doing this since 1983, using Metropolitan Life insurance tables from that year.

For example, the insurance table recommends that a medium-framed 5-foot-7 man weigh 140 to 152 pounds; a woman, 133 to 147.

The survey, taken Jan. 18-22, indicates that 24 percent of adults are over their recommended weight range by 20 percent or more.

KEYWORDS: POLL SURVEY WEIGHT by CNB