Yesterday, the CDC’s yearly survey on the states that have the biggest problem with obesity came out. Once again, Tennessee is near the top of the list.
The South tips the scales again as the nation’s fattest region, according to a new government survey.
More than 30 percent of adults in each of the states tipped the scales enough to ensure that the South remains the nation’s fattest region.
Colorado was the least obese, with about 19 percent fitting that category in a random telephone survey last year by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The 2007 findings are similar to results from the same survey the three previous years. Mississippi has had the highest obesity rate every year since 2004. But Alabama, Tennessee, West Virginia and Louisiana have also clustered near the top of the list, often so close that the difference between their rates and Mississippi’s may not be statistically significant.
So, the CDC blames the traditional way of cooking — fried foods — as part of the reason. But, let’s look at the ten most obese states:
1. Mississippi, 32.0 percent
2. Alabama, 30.3
3. Tennessee, 30.1
4. Louisiana, 29.8
5. West Virginia, 29.5
6. Arkansas, 28.7
7. South Carolina, 28.4
8. Georgia, 28.2
9. Oklahoma, 28.1
10. Texas, 28.1
8 of the 1o are southern states. The 3 fattest states are also poorer states. The three fattest states are also states with a high percentage of low income children. The three fattest states are also states that residents do not have access to affordable health care in their largely rural areas. And the three fattest states rank low on education.
The CDC then omits (?) the correlation between processed foods and obesity, which they really should be looking at. Education, income, and access to health care all have a significant impact on a person. This cannot be reduced to “traditional high fat fried foods diet”. If folks do not have the income to afford natural foods, if folks do not have access to a health professional who would explain why fried foods/processed foods are so bad for their diet, and if folks do not have the education to UNDERSTAND what they are being told, you will not irradicate the problem.
And I haven’t evven touched the problem of medicines of which the side effect is WEIGHT GAIN.
As a resident of the 10th fattest state (and former resident of the once fattest city – Houston), might I also add that many areas in the South, including virtually every state on that list, have little to no public transportation or, indeed, safe sidewalks or biking lanes. In Texas, as in many other areas of the South, it is impossible to go anywhere, including the grocery store, without getting in a car and driving there which is not good for your wasteline. In all but the largest cities, there is no public transportation. When I visited New York, not only did we use public transportation exclusively but we also had to WALK TO the public transportation, in some cases several blocks at a time. This, no doubt, is helpful to full time residents remaining thin.
At home, however, we do not even have a sidewalk on my street, nor do the few sidewalks around the town square extend to other areas where one would want to go. There are also no biking lanes and to bike anywhere is to truly take your life into your own hands as every year the idiot rednecks manage to kill someone who had the audacity to ride a bicycle on the street despite there being no sidewalks or bike lanes.
All of these things, in my opinion, contribute to this.
You say that 8 of 10 are southern states. I see 10 of 10 are southern states. Please explain your comment.
Bob,not all folks consider Oklahoma and West Virginia as southern states. Take a look at the “traditional South” map here Then the “modern” map , here.
Well, none of those maps exclude West Virginia from the South, Oklahoma is not included in the first because it’s the Old South. Oklahoma is included in the second map. I looked at the Wikipedia article with those maps, and it said West Virginia is often included in the South, and Oklahoma occasionally, which is very different from what you said.