Final answer:
The statement is false; obesity rates in the United States have increased significantly since 1960, with the percentage of overweight or obese adults being over 70 percent as of recent data.
Step-by-step explanation:
The statement that the percentage of overweight individuals in the US is lower than it was in 1960 is false. The rate of obesity in the United States has been rising steadily since the 1980s. In the 1990s, less than 10 percent of the population in most states was obese, with the highest state rate at 15 percent. However, by 2010, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that nearly 36 percent of adults over 20 were obese, and an additional 33 percent were overweight, indicating a significant increase from earlier decades. It can be inferred that with over 70 percent of Americans currently overweight or obese, there has been a substantial rise in obesity rates since 1960.