Americans getting taller and fatter

American children and adults have become a little bit taller over the past 40 years, but a lot heavier, according to government statistics.

The average American adult was 2.5 centimetres taller between 1999 and 2002 than in 1960-62, the US National Center for Health Statistics said.

But at the same time, poor diet and lack of exercise have made Americans significantly fatter, said the centre, which is monitoring weight trends among Americans, a third of whom are now considered obese.

The average weight for men aged 20 to 74 rose dramatically from 75.3 kilograms in 1960 to 86.52 kilograms in 2002, a gain of 11.32 kilograms , according to the report.

The average weight for women the same age increased from 63.5 kilograms to 74.4 kilograms over the same period of time.

A similar tendency was observed among children and teenagers.