A new report from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation finds that
“adult obesity rates increased in 28 states in the past year,
and declined only in the District of Columbia.” And “more than
two-thirds of states (38) have adult obesity rates above 25
percent,” a figure practically unheard of 20 years ago when “no
state had an obesity rate above 20 percent.” Other key findings:
- Adult obesity rates for Blacks topped 40 percent in nine
states, 35 percent in 34 states, and 30 percent in 43 states and
D.C. Rates of adult obesity for Latinos were above 35 percent in
two states (North Dakota and Tennessee) and at 30 percent and
above in 19 states. No state had rates of adult obesity above 35
percent for Whites. Only one state-West Virginia-had an adult
obesity rate for Whites greater than 30 percent. - The number of
states where adult obesity rates exceed 30 percent doubled in
the past year, from four to eight –Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky,
Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Tennessee and West Virginia. -
Ten of the 1