&gt; It found that over the past four decades, the average age-corrected male BMI rose to 24.2 from 21.7, and in women rose to 24.4 from 22.1.<p>Could this be due to an increase in people going to the gym?
A bmi of 24.x is still &lt; 30 and not unhealthy.<p>Therefore, I wonder whether we see two different things here: 1.) More people become obese (those with an bmi &gt; 30 [and even there could be some corner cases due to the fact that bmi is by no means a perfect measure]) and 2.) more people lift weights&#x2F;become (somewhat) healthier.