The number of obese people in the United States will continue to rise, bringing the number of obesity-related deaths and health care costs with it, according to a study published in The Lancet and reported by HealthDay News.

In 2008, Latinos were among the top of the list for obesity rates, with one third of Latina women and one quarter of Latino men considered obese. A new study has found the numbers will continue to climb.

Using a statistical model, researchers from the World Health Organization Centre for Obesity Prevention predict that the number of obese people in the United States will increase from 99 million in 2008 to 164 million by 2030. That translates to an obesity rate of 50 percent for men and up to 52 percent for women.

And this adds up to a lot of dollars and cents. In the United States, the cost of treating diseases related to obesity (like diabetes, heart disease and stroke) would increase up to $66 billion per year by 2030. These increasing rates would mean almost 8 million new cases of diabetes, almost 7 million extra cases of coronary heart disease and stroke, and 539,000 extra cancer cases of cancer by 2030. And Latinos are already at risk for all three conditions.

However, researchers noted that losing just a small amount of weight could translate into big changes. Researchers found that a 1 percent population-wide decrease in body mass index (losing about 2 pounds for an average 198-pound person) could prevent more than 2 million cases of diabetes, 1.5 million cases of heart attack and stroke and up to 127,000 cancer cases of cancer.

This research is part of The Lancet’s ongoing series about obesity in the world.