Obesity Epidemic in US Continues to Spread

Today, the state with the lowest obesity rate would have had the highest rate in 1995. Despite new initiatives aimed at various sectors of society, including schools and restaurants, obesity rates did not drop in one single US state last year, and rose in 16 of them. Twelve states have 30%+ obesity rates today, compared to just one in 2007, according to “F as in Fat: How Obesity Threatens America’s Future 2011” by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Nine of the ten states in the South have the highest obesity rates in America, while those in the West and Northeast have the lowest. For seven years running, Mississippi is in first place. The only state with an obesity rate of less than 20% is Colorado. This latest report, which spans two decades, shows that twenty years ago the number of US states with an obesity rate above 15% was ZERO. Since 1995, obesity rates have risen by 90%+ in 10 states and have doubled in another 7. Tennessee, Alabama, and Oklahoma have experienced the fastest increases, while Connecticut, Colorado and Washington, DC have seen the lowest.