Obesity and Overweight Status in the U.S from 2013-2014

Being overweight or obese is a serious health concern and is an epidemic that is plaguing millions of Americans. Our primary goal for this research project is to understand what variables, risk factors, and their combinations play a role in causing individuals to become overweight or obese. For this research we plan to use the data from the National Health and Nutritional Examination Survey (NHANES) for the years of 2013-2014, because the variables we want to study are present in this dataset. We plan to use statistical analysis, such as regression modeling, tree methods, and others to see which variables are statistically significant. Using these results, we want to have a clear idea of what factors play a key role in overweight/obesity status and inform the public which will hopefully lead to a decrease in overweight and obesity rates throughout the United States.