WASHINGTON — Americans are getting heavier than ever, with more than 26 percent of the population now fully obese, the U.S. government reported on Wednesday. Despite warnings that the population must stop layering on the fat and frightening statistics that show two-thirds of Americans are overweight or obese, the weight trend continues, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported. ‘The proportion of U.S. adults who are obese increased to 26.1 percent in 2008 compared to 25.6 percent in 2007,’ the CDC said in a statement. ‘If this trend continues we will likely see increases in healthcare costs for obesity-related diseases,’ said the CDC’s Liping Pan, who headed the study. ‘Obesity is a major risk factor for many chronic diseases such as heart disease and diabetes,’ the CDC’s Dr. William Dietz added in a statement. ‘As obesity increases among all age groups, we are seeing chronic diseases in much younger adults compared to a few decades ago. ‘For example, we now see young adults who suffer from heart disease risk factors and other conditions such as type 2 diabetes that were unheard of in the past.’ The agency used its Behavioral Risk Factor […]