States where at least 30 percent of adults are obese
• Alabama
• Arkansas
• Indiana
• Iowa
• Kentucky
• Louisiana
• Michigan
• Mississippi
• Ohio
• Oklahoma
• South Carolina
• Tennessee
• West Virginia
Adult obesity still isn’t budging, the latest government survey shows.
The national telephone survey found 13 states with very high rates of obesity last year. Overall, the proportion of U.S. adults deemed obese has been about the same for years now.
“A plateau is better than rising numbers. But it’s discouraging because we’re plateauing at a very high number,” said Kelly Brownell, a Duke University public policy expert who specializes in obesity.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention does the survey each year, and recently released the 2012 results.
At least 30 percent of adults were obese in 13 states: Alabama, Arkansas, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee and West Virginia. In 2011, a dozen states reached that threshold.
Louisiana and Mississippi led the list. In both, nearly 35 percent of adults were obese. Colorado was lowest, with less than 21 percent obese.
It’s not surprising states in the South and Midwest top the charts year after year, experts say. Many states in those regions have higher poverty rates.
“When you have a limited income, you have to buy foods that are cheap. And foods that are cheap tend to have a lot of sugar and salt and fat,” said Dr. George Bray, an obesity expert at Louisiana State University.
In another study published online Thursday, the American Journal of Public Health reports the death toll of the nation’s obesity epidemic may be close to four times higher than has been widely believed, and all that excess weight could reverse the steady trend of lengthening life spans for a generation of younger Americans.
Some 18.2 percent of premature deaths in the United States between 1986 and 2006 were associated with excess body mass, according to a team of sociologists led by a Columbia University demographer. That estimate is far higher than the 5 percent toll widely cited by researchers.
The AJPH study makes clear that as obesity has become more widespread across successive waves of American generations, it has the momentum to reduce the average life expectancy of an entire population for many years to come. The study found that weight-related early mortality had struck American women harder than men, and that African-American women had suffered the most. The premature deaths of 21.7 percent of white women between 1986 and 2006 could be attributed in part to excess weight, as could 26.8 percent of early deaths among African-American women.
Among white men, 15.6 percent of premature deaths in that period were linked to excess weight. Among black men, the figure was only 5 percent.
The CDC defines someone as obese if their weight-to-height ratio — called a “body mass index” — hits 30 or higher. A 5-foot-9 person would be considered obese at 203 pounds or more.
The CDC’s annual telephone survey asks adults their height and weight. Overall, nearly 28 percent of Americans were obese, the 2012 survey found. That’s roughly the same as it’s been since 2008.
Another CDC survey — which weighs and measures participants — is considered more accurate. Since the middle of the last decade, that survey has found that around 35 percent of U.S. adults are obese.
The story may be different with children. A CDC study released last week showed — for the first time — slight drops in obesity for low-income preschoolers in 18 states.
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