How Does Your State Rate in Obesity?

How Does Your State Rate in Obesity?

Food & Drink

How Does Your State Rate in Obesity?

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We’re still getting fatter in the USA. An annual report entitled F as in Fat: How Obesity Threatens America’s Future 2011 pointed out that not a single one of the 50 states in the union showed a decline in obesity rates.

The report, issued by the Trust for America’s Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, listed Mississippi as the state with the highest obesity rate in the nation, widening to 34.4 percent, while Colorado had the fewest obese residents with a rate of 19.8 percent.

Perhaps most alarmingly, the report showed that over that past 20 years, seven states have seen their obesity rates doubled, and ten states have doubled their rate of diabetes.

The highest obesity rates are found mostly in the South, where fried foods are especially popular. Since 1995, obesity rates have risen fastest in Oklahoma, Alabama and Tennessee.

Halting the rise in obesity rates in America—especially among children—has been the number one cause for First Lady Michelle Obama, who has spearheaded the Let’s Move! and Chefs Move to Schools programs, aimed at ending childhood obesity within a generation. Mrs. Obama was also instrumental in the recent change from the Food Pyramid to the more simplified MyPlate dietary guidelines.

The new report shows just how daunting the challenge will be.

Here are the obesity rankings for the 50 states. In this list, you don’t want to be #1.

1. Mississippi (34.4%)

2. Alabama (32.3%)

3. West Virginia (32.2%)

4. Tennessee (31.9%)

5. Louisiana (31.6%)

6. Kentucky (31.5%)

7. Oklahoma (31.4%)

8. South Carolina (30.9%)

9. Arkansas (30.6%)

10. Michigan (30.5%)

11. Missouri (30.3%)

12. Texas (30.1%)

13. Ohio (29.6%)

14. North Carolina (29.4%)

15. Indiana (29.1%)

16. Kansas (29%);

17. (tie) Georgia (28.7%); and South Dakota (28.7%)

19. Pennsylvania (28.5%)

20. Iowa (28.1%)

21. (tie) Delaware (28%); and North Dakota (28%)

23. Illinois (27.7%)

24. Nebraska (27.6%)

25. Wisconsin (27.4%)

26. Maryland (27.1%)

27. Maine (26.5%)

28. Washington (26.4%)

29. Florida (26.1%)

30. (tie) Alaska (25.9%); and Virginia (25.9%)

32. Idaho (25.7%)

33. (tie) New Hampshire (25.6%); and New Mexico (25.6%)

35. (tie) Arizona (25.4%); Oregon (25.4%) and Wyoming (25.4%)

38. Minnesota (25.3%)

39. Nevada (25.0%)

40. California (24.8%)

41. New York (24.7%)

42. Rhode Island (24.3%)

43. New Jersey (24.1%)

44. Montana (23.8%)

45. Vermont (23.5%)

46. Utah (23.4%)

47. Hawaii (23.1%)

48. Massachusetts (22.3%);

49. Connecticut (21.8%)

50. District of Columbia (21.7%)

51. Colorado (19.8%).

Source: Trust for America’s Health; Robert Wood Johnson Foundation

Rankings are based on combining three years of data (2007-2009) from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System.

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