Marines and sailors participate in an obstacle course event on Camp Lejeune, N.C., on Feb. 14, 2024. (Cpl. Mary Kohlmann/U.S. Marine Corps)

American troops are too fat, and it is costing the Pentagon more than $1 billion of taxpayer funding each year, a study of obesity among active-duty service members published Wednesday found.

Obesity was the leading cause for disqualification among hopeful military recruit applicants, and the top driver of separations among active-duty troops in 2023, according to the new American Security Project study. The Washington-based think tank that studies modern national security issues found the Pentagon spent some $1.25 billion last year treating military patients for dozens of diseases related to obesity, and another $99 million in lost productivity among hospitalized overweight troops.

“America can no longer afford to ignore this [obesity] crisis,” American Security Project researchers wrote. “The United States armed forces face an unprecedented challenge as obesity prevalence among service members continues to rise. As combat and incidental injuries become less prevalent year-over-year, rates of obesity-related conditions, including diabetes, osteoarthritis, hypertension and steatotic liver disease increasingly meet or exceed civilian trends.”

Researchers suggested the Pentagon take a more proactive approach to preventing obesity, focusing on providing young, enlisted troops with health and nutrition education and access to quality foods. They also suggested the military replace long-held, appearance-based body composition standards with health-based standards driven by medical professionals and classify obesity as a disease in the military health system so troops can be treated medically for the condition.

“Unlike nearly all other diseases affecting service members today, obesity itself is not considered a disability nor disease by the service branches nor the Department of Veterans Affairs, making it difficult to proactively identify and treat,” the report reads. “Without this written classification and its associated protections, service members face bias and discrimination for ‘exceeding weight standards,’ becoming ineligible for promotion, educational privileges, deployment or disability compensation.”

Last year, the American Security Project found nearly seven in 10 active-duty troops were overweight or obese, according to their body mass index, including some 21% of active-duty troops qualified as obese, a rate that more than doubled in the past decade. Body mass index, or BMI, is a long-used but controversial method of assessing a person’s body classification by height and weight. A person between 25 and 30 on the BMI is considered clinically overweight and more than 30 is considered obese, according to the National Institutes of Health.

The researchers found the weight problem within the military was at least two-pronged because of rising obesity rates among the civilian population from which the military needs to recruit, and the loosening of military fitness standards to ensure the services have enough troops in their ranks amid recent enlistment struggles. The Pentagon, the researchers found, has lowered fitness standards to keep overweight troops in the ranks and increased the use of body composition waivers to bring overweight recruits into the military.

The military services have taken steps in recent years to counter obesity. The Army and Navy introduced fitness courses to engage potential recruits early and get them into shape to qualify for service. The Marines, meanwhile, began using more accurate biometric scanning machines last year to assess body fat.

But the American Security Project concluded those measures were not enough to mitigate the threat of increasing weight problems in the force, which were exacerbated during the 2020 coronavirus pandemic, which forced many troops away from daily exercise during lockdowns. Obesity rates have not improved since the lockdowns ended, according to the researchers.

They charge reversing military policies that stigmatize obesity — such as tape measure tests — and focusing instead on providing treatment for troops susceptible to obesity or diagnosed with obesity would improve military readiness and save the services money — up to $1 billion each year, according to the study.

“These recommendations aren’t just well-justified by the existing research, they are highly cost-effective,” the researchers concluded. “Upfront investments in clinical care saves tens of thousands of dollars per patient in the long run, even if those patients remain overweight.”