With a new study showing Tuesday that more than 30 percent of Georgians are obese, state public health officials said they are drawing up battle plans to try to stop the epidemic.
"We really have declared war on obesity," said Dr. Kimberly Redding, director of the Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Program at the Georgia Department of Public Health.
Georgia's obesity rate reached 30.4 percent in 2010, up from 27.7 percent in 2009, according to the new data, which was collected in each state through the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System.
Georgia isn't the fattest state. Mississippi holds that title with an obesity rate of 34.5 percent. But Georgia's rate exceeds the national average of 27.6 percent.
"We know that in Georgia our obesity rates have been climbing steadily over the years to where we feel we have reached a crisis point," Redding said.
Reducing obesity is a major focus of the state's new Department of Public Health, which became a stand-alone state agency on July 1 after years as a division within another state department. The problem is a priority because people who are overweight are more likely to develop diabetes, cancer, strokes and heart problems, Redding said.
Some programs are already in the works -- including Georgia's SHAPE Act, which will promote childhood fitness statewide during the upcoming school year after being tested in five school systems last year. Each student will get a fitness assessment as part of the program, Redding said.
Georgians can expect to see another wave of new programs in schools, offices, churches and elsewhere in the coming months as Georgia works to shave pounds off its residents.
The new rates, released Tuesday by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, were slightly higher than figures reported last week in another national study. Experts said the variations are due to different data collection methods.
Every state registered an obesity rate of 20 percent or more in the new study, said Bettylou Sherry, an epidemiologist at the CDC's Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity and Obesity.
Obesity is determined by measuring body mass index -- a ratio of someone's height and weight. A woman who is 5′4″ is obese if she weighs 174 pounds or more, while a man who is 5′10″ is obese if he weighs 209 pounds or more.
Sherry, of the CDC, said families need to find ways to make changes in their habits that they can stick to -- introducing healthy foods that taste good and finding ways to exercise that are fun.
State public health officials, who said the numbers released Tuesday are now the state's official numbers, agreed that Georgians will have to be convinced to change their habits -- something that may take years.
"Targeting obesity is not going to be a quick fix," Redding said.
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