Obesity rates are on the rise across the U.S.

Americans are fat and getting fatter, according to a new report that finds that adults and children in the U.S. continue to pack on the pounds.

Adult obesity went up in 23 states, according to the report released today by advocacy groups Trust for America's Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. If that weren't bad enough, in 30 states, the percentage of overweight or obese children is at or above 30%.

Take a bow, Mississippi, you're No. 1 for the fifth year in a row, with an adult obesity rate of 32.5%. Colorado ranks lowest at 18.9%. And California is in 41st place with 23.6%. Mississippi also holds the No. 1 spot for obese and overweight children ages 10 to 17, with a rate of 44.4%. Ouch. Utah and Minnesota tied for the bottom spot at 23.1%, and California is in 28th place at 30.5%. Southern states take a hit, accounting for eight out of the top 10 states ranked highest for adult obesity.

The report, titled "F as in Fat: How Obesity Policies Are Failing in America 2009," also found that no states had a decrease in obesity rates, but 16 had rates go up for the second year in a row, and 11 saw rates increase for the third year in a row.

But some states are reacting to the crisis. According to the report, more have set nutritional standards for meals and snacks served at schools, and a greater number also require body mass index screenings of kids and teens or have passed laws requiring schools to do weight assessments.

Yet clearly more needs to be done. The report's National Strategy to Combat Obesity recommends increasing the availability of affordable, healthful foods everywhere; limiting screen time; and giving healthy foods and beverages to schoolchildren.

-- Jeannine Stein

Photo credit: AFP / Getty Images

Comments

[Kathleen]

I'm sixty-something now, but when I was a kid growing up, I can remember only one school classmate who was overweight and none were obese. Incidentally, that one is now slim and trim. I wonder if TV advertising of junk food is not a big part of the problem. Subliminal messages to eat are with us all day every day. Food is the center of life today. It didn't used to be that way.

[jdcarmine]

My question is whether there is a link between the rate of prescribed depression pharmaceuticals and obesity. My guess is that as more and more Americans are happily diagnosed depressed and prescribed SSRI's, more of us just keep getting fatter and fatter. Perhaps less Prozac and more walking would make the difference, but of course psychopharmacological industrial complex needs us to worship our depression. Imagine how much money would be lost if Americans gave up chronic depression as an accepted life-style!

[Lily]

jdcarmine, clearly you've never been diagnosed with major depression or you would not be so flippant. I'm alive because I had the courage to seek help for my suicidal thoughts and depression and received medication.

[Yvette L.]

I suggest that U.S. citizens and policy makers should take note of a European project called EPODE - the interpretation which is "Together Let's Stop Obesity". This French study was part of a community based effort to prevent overweight in school children in two small towns in France. The program involved the entire community in an effort to encourage children to eat better and move around more.

The program results? Remarkable. By 2005, the prevalence of overweight in children had fallen to 8.8% whereas it had risen to 17.8% in the neighboring towns. For more information go to EPODE's site: http://www.epha.org/a/3149

Bottomline - it takes a village to combat the multiple forces of overweight and obesity. And, the sooner Americans start to realize this, the better off we will be.

[spidra]

I don't think there's only one reason why. But included in causes is a diet very high in sugars and a daily life that includes a lot less exercise. Most of us have office jobs where we sit in a chair all day. Cities should be including bikes in their urban planning. If it were easier & safer to bike, more people would be doing it. Taking the car 5 blocks to the store is definitely the kind of lifestyle that contributes to obesity. Let's get back to walkable (and bikeable) neighborhoods & urban planning.

[mmmkit]

There is a very simple solution to most of this epidemic. I am not certain about how other states operate, but in California, four years of P.E in high school is not mandatory for graduation anymore, and hasn't been for several years. Since then, obesity has been rising. I believe that if P.E. is made mandatory in junior high and high school levels of education, the obesity rates would drop in younger adults and children. I can't put my two cents in about how/what/what time of day (too late at night) parents feed their children, but I am saying that with plenty of exercise, they can burn calories. This would also take some of the strain off of healthcare. Why was P.E. cut again? All I know is that older people have an advantage over the very younger people and twenty somethings, because we had P.E. every day. You very seldom saw an overweight teen, and if you did, it was probably a health issue, not a work out issue.

[Irving]

Yvette - I'm with you.

Seriously - the best approach involves education, education, education! People don't realize what's making them fat. Sure, they might see the calories labeled on nutrition facts, but those numbers mean nothing without explanation and simplification.

Another thing too that needs work is nudges. Putting all these fatty foods around kids' faces (like advertisers do) will only make them more desirous of these choices rather than healthier alternatives. A selection of more nutritious alternatives would surely help people choose the better option.

[Against Hypocrisy]

I just have to shake my head every time I read another of the "same old, same old" articles about obesity and why Americans are getting so fat. I remember also, when I was a young boy back before the "fat is deadly, it will kill you, eliminate it at all costs" routine started to take hold, very few people, and kids, were morbidly obese, but ever since the high carb-low fat mantra started to become the de facto regimen for healthy eating, the rates of obesity, diabetes, and heart disease has skyrocketed to unbelieveable proportions. The fact of the matter is, that when insulin levels are raised, and the body cannot burn off the excess, it gets stored as body fat. Only carbohydrates are capable of this, not fats or proteins. Most carbohydrates are useless for nutritive value, ever take a look at the sugar content of so-called "healthy foods"? What a bunch of hogwash! In many cases, you're better off eating a glazed donut! I don't see people gorging themselves on bacon and eggs and steaks, I see them dumping as many energy drinks (notorious for their high sugar content) candy bars, and sugary sodas as they can down their throats. Also, the use of high fructose corn syrup has caused damage to the population that continues to intensify year after year. If politicians wanted to really do something about the morbid rates of obesity, diabetes, and other "lifestyle afflictions" they would tax junk food, sugary foods and drinks, and high fructose corn syrup until hell wouldn't have it, and offer tax credits to lower the prices on meat, poultry, eggs, and produce.

[Laure]

jdcarmine, you obviously know nothing about depression. My mother was severely depressed for a good portion of her life. She was extremely active and skinny. It was only after she started taking anti-depressants that she stopped being miserable around-the-clock. And she is still skinny. I may not have believed it if I didn't see it with my own eyes, but depression is a real, physiological disease.

I have to agree with Against Hypocrisy. I grew up in the 70's, and there were tons of ads for junk food, but most kids were thin. It has only since we have been pushing the low-fat diet that people started getting obese. Michael Pollan has recently said that, if you want to eat for your health, never buy a product that is advertised as healthy. These packaged products are most likely bad for you.

[Just putting it out there]

Maybe if healthy foods became more affordable we wouldnt have such a problem! Inm can get three fast food burgers for the price of 2lbs of grapes...GRAPES in most places. It's absurd. Wonder why the crisis is worse you say? Just look at the economy and tell me what is easier...fast food that is easy and quick when you you are working your ass off all day long to save your job or going out and paying for ingredients that add up to more work and are more everything. Sure some of the fast food is costly but jeeze one dollar for a burger...one dollar for a lunch.

It's about time someone addressed this issue...I'm sick of it though.

[Nita Martin]

All you have to do is walk through a supermarket. Row on row of high fat, high sugar prepared foods, chips, crackers, candy. And a small section with a small selection of vegetables. I have to go to a produce market. And my son says I am the only person he knows who cooks with basics and from scratch. (with the exception of my kids, who cook and eat healthy foods and are also not overweight) As for "the economy" being to blame for people eating fast food...You can buy boneless, skinless chicken breasts on sale all the time for $1.99 a pound. And all the veggies to go with it for less than a Happy Meal. Fat parents are lazy parents when it comes to feeding their families. So they have fat children. And eating nutritionally is not more expensive, nor more difficult. It just takes the basic knowledge that broccoli is better for you than pizza. And a little time and self-discipline.

[Walnut High Kid]

When I was in high school in the 80s, all my classmates walked to/from school; had a P.E. class everyday; we had bicycles; walked everywhere; played outside; and had no big gulps or soda machines in schools. Refills were non-existant or if you were lucky, you had to pay 25 cents for an 8 ounce cup refill, not 32 ounces like we have today. Crime was worse then than it is now and we sure were a lot more naiave then but we insist today on taking/picking up our school kids today, robbing them of exercise.

99 cent burgers that were loaded with fat, calories and the like did not exist. C'mon America, we are all to blame. Have you seen what kind of food and the portions we get lately? Travel around the world and you can spot the American a mile away.

We need to wake up and go back to the old ways of life.

[terese]

i've been using an online food journal to lose weight. this one is awesome. it's free and super easy to use. i've lost about 20 pounds (still 20 more to go), but i've been keeping the weight off. by seeing what i eat, i am motivated to eat better and exercise (aaaargh) more. there are lots of testiminials on teh site and it seems to be working for other folks too.

[Jake T]

Under our current system of political incentives, this problem is never going away. The powerful farm lobby's darling, corn subsidies, will ensure that sugary foods and fatty meats will continue to be artificially cheap. And the medical industry is all in favor of having more demand for their services from the chronically ill obese.

What moneyed interest is lobbying *against* obesity? None, as far as I can tell.

[FatNSassy]

Those fattest city surveys are a joke. They don't weigh one single person. They look at things like number of fast food places,air and water quality. That way, if the most polluted city is the fattest, we never have to look beyond lifestyle to fix real health problems. I believe that things like pollution, endocrine disrupters, and stress can cause weight gain. But lets not forget all throughout history there have been happy healthy beautiful fat people, it is part of Mother Nature's plan.