Friday, July 03, 2009
The American waistline continues to expand at an alarming rate, according to a new report, which found in 2008 not a single U.S. state reported a decline in adult obesity—while nearly half the country experienced an increase. The study, produced by the Trust for America’s Health (TFAH) and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, found 23 states reported a rise in adult obesity last year, and 30% of children in 30 states are either obese or overweight.
The problem is particularly glaring in the South. For five years in a row, Mississippi has led the nation in adult obesity (32.5% in 2008), and the state also has had the highest rate of obese and overweight children (ages 10 to 17) at 44.4%. In addition to Mississippi, three other states have adult obesity rates of 30% or higher: Alabama (31.2%), West Virginia (31.1%), and Tennessee (30.2%). Minnesota and Utah have the lowest rates of overweight and obese children: 23.1%.
Obesity, however, is not a problem only found in the South. Two-thirds of all American adults are either obese or overweight. There are 31 states where more than one-quarter of the adult population is obese, and in every state except one (Colorado) the adult obesity rate is more than 20%. In 1991, not one state had an obesity rate higher than 20%.
In 1980, only 15% of the nation’s adults were obese or overweight.
-Noel Brinkerhoff
How Obesity Policies are Failing in America (Trust for America’s Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation)
F as in Fat: How Obesity Policies are Failing in America (Trust for America’s Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation) (PDF)
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