Report: America's Obesity Problem Getting Worse

In Mississippi, 34.4 percent of the adults in the state are obese. Not just overweight, obese.

Not to pick on the Magnolia State, which has led the nation in the Trust for America's Health and Robert Woods Johnson annual obesity survey for the seventh year in a row, it should be noted Alabama was close behind, with an adult obesity rate of 32.3 percent. West Virginia was third at 32.2 percent.

According to the report, obesity rates increased in 16 states in the past year and did not decline in any state.Twelve states now have obesity rates above 30 percent. Four years ago, only one state was above 30 percent.

Geographic pattern

When you place the obesity rate on a map of the country, a geographic pattern emerges. The problem appears to be the most dramatic in the south, with nine of the 10 states with the highest adult obesity rates.

States in the Northeast and West tend to have lower rates. Colorado has the lowest obesity rate and, remarkably, is the only state with a rate under 20 percent.

This year's survey takes a look back, measuring today's epidemic against conditions 20 years ago. The contract is startling.

A lighter country 20 years ago

Twenty years ago, no state had an obesity rate above 15 percent. Today, more than two out of three states, 38 total, have obesity rates over 25 percent, and just one has a rate lower than 20 percent.

Since 1995, when data was available for every state, obesity rates have doubled in seven states and increased by at least 90 percent in 10 others. Obesity rates have grown fastest in Oklahoma, Alabama, and Tennessee, and slowest in Washington, D.C., Colorado, and Connecticut.

“Today, the state with the lowest obesity rate would have had the highest rate in 1995,” said Jeff Levi, Ph.D., executive director of TFAH. “There was a clear tipping point in our national weight gain over the last twenty years, and we can’t afford to ignore the impact obesity has on our health and corresponding health care spending.”

What happened?

How did this happen? Chances are, a lot of factors have contributed to America's weight problem. Processed food provides plentiful and cheap calories. During the Great Depression, people shed pounds because calories were expensive and scarce. Today, the opposite is true.

More adults spend their work days in front of computer screens, getting little exercise – moving from the office chair in the day to the living room couch in the evening. And while the survey measures only adult obesity, it's easy to conclude that each year children enter adulthood already packing too many pounds.

Health officials are alarmed at the trend because obesity has long been associated with other severe health problems, including diabetes and high blood pressure. New data in the report show how rates of both also have risen dramatically over the last two decades.

Since 1995, diabetes rates have doubled in eight states. Then, only four states had diabetes rates above 6 percent. Now, 43 states have diabetes rates over 7 percent, and 32 have rates above 8 percent. Twenty years ago, 37 states had hypertension rates over 20 percent. Now, every state is over 20 percent, with nine over 30 percent.