CHARLESTON, W.Va. — More adults in both West Virginia and Mississippi are obese than anywhere else in the United States.
That’s the conclusion of a new report from the Trust for America’s Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation that puts the obesity rates for both states at 35.1 percent — the first time any state has reached that level.
“This is a 30 year epidemic that’s been building slowly, but surely,” said Rich Hamburg, deputy director for the Trust for America’s Health on Friday’s MetroNews “Talkline.”
He said the only good news, nationally, is that adult obesity rates are leveling off in most states, even though he still called the numbers “unacceptably high.”
An adult with a body mass index of 30 or higher is considered obese. BMI takes into account height and weight to determine total body fat.
“Individuals are not getting enough exercise, not moving enough, I should say, and eating too much and too much of the wrong things,” said Hamburg when asked for an explanation of the numbers.
He said there’s no denying there is a direct correlation between obesity and chronic health problems.
“West Virginia, for example, has the 2nd highest rate of diabetes, 7th highest rate of physical inactivity and is number one in hypertension, high blood pressure. Over 40 percent, four in ten, West Virginians are hypertensive — so no surprise there.”
But the obesity rates are not just high in West Virginia and Mississippi. According to the report, the adult obesity rate is at or above 30 percent in 20 states. Nine out of the ten states with the highest obesity rates are in the South.
The lowest adult obesity rate currently is in Colorado at 21 percent, higher than the highest obesity rate as recently as 1991.
Without a major change to the current trend, “The State of Obesity” report is projecting West Virginia’s obesity rate will balloon to 60.2 percent by 2030.