Biscuit-loving folks down South won’t be too hungry for the news: They’re the plumpest in America. The stout South is home to nine of the 10 fattest states in the land, according to a new report released yesterday by the Trust for America’s Health.
The “Biggest Belt” belongs to Mississippi, followed by Alabama, West Virginia, Louisiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Indiana — the lone northerner — South Carolina, and finally Texas.
Things are pretty portly elsewhere, though. Nationwide, 31 states had a greater percentage of their residents classified as obese in this year’s report than last year’s.
“America’s obesity epidemic is getting worse,” said Jeff Levi, director of the District-based group, which analyzed state obesity reports and criticized the lack of government policy, community planning and cultural influences that could help slim the nation. This year’s study covered figures from 2003 to 2005.
U.S. citizens were not off the hook. Americans consume 300 more calories a day on average than they did in 1985, and 22 percent more sugar, the report said. They spend $35 billion on ineffective dieting schemes — with weighty consequences. Obesity can lead to diabetes, heart disease and stroke, ultimately costing the country $117 billion a year in medical costs and lost worker productivity.
Do we care? Fat acceptance is growing in our culture: A survey of 1,900 adults released earlier this year by New York-based NPD Group, a consumer research company, found that less than one-quarter of us actually care if someone is overweight — down from 55 percent two decades ago. Nutritionist Charles Stuart Platkin recently estimated that Americans collectively weigh more than 39 billion pounds and gain at the rate of 8 pounds a second.
Still, the new report noted that personal obesity does not occur in “a vacuum,” citing lack of national strategies to counter the fat epidemic.
“Quick fixes and limited government programs have failed to stem the tide,” Mr. Levi said.
The report named 43 influential “fat factors” for Americans, from gargantuan restaurant portions and commuting to sedentary workplaces and the sheer stress of modern-day life. Even crumbling sidewalks and unsafe parks were cited for their failure to promote walking or outdoor play.
The researchers were most alarmed by numbers. While the Department of Health and Human Services has set a goal to reduce the obesity level to less than 15 percent of the U.S. population by 2010, the rate now exceeds that number in every state. It exceeds 20 percent in 43 states and the District.
The best and the worst? Colorado, the skinniest state, has an obesity rate of just under 17 percent. In Mississippi, it’s almost 30 percent.
Meanwhile, other research may challenge the idea of the stout South.
Earlier this year, Men’s Fitness magazine named Chicago as the “fattest city in America,” followed by Las Vegas and Los Angeles. The “fittest” cities were Baltimore, Honolulu and Virginia Beach.
The publication based its ruling on a wide spectrum of variables in 50 cities, from the number of gyms to the presence of public running trails, alcohol use and the proportion of “fast-food outlets, pizza parlors, ice cream shops and doughnut stores ranked per 100,000 population.”
The whole planet is also putting on the pounds, though. Globally, there are more than 1 billion overweight adults, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), which notes that the number now outweighs the world’s 850 million malnourished people.
While obesity has tripled since 1980 in many areas of North America, Europe, Australia and the Middle East, WHO still pinpointed the highs and lows of weight gain on Earth. Current obesity levels range from less than 5 percent in China, Japan and certain African nations, to more than 75 percent in urban Samoa, the organization noted in a report earlier this year.
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