You’d think I’d become numb to the CDC updates on obesity in the
US. You’d be wrong: - More than one-third of U.S. adults (35.7%)
are obese. [Read data brief] - Obesity-related conditions
include heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes and certain types
of cancer, some of the leading causes of preventable death.
[Read guidelines] - In 2008, medical costs associated with
obesity were estimated at $147 billion; the medical costs for
people who are obese were $1,429 higher than those of normal
weight. [Read summary] It gets worse: - By state, obesity
prevalence ranged from 20.7% in Colorado to 34.9% in Mississippi
in 2011. No state had a prevalence of obesity less than 20%. 39
states had a prevalence of 25% or more; 12 of these states had a
prevalence of 30% or more: Alabama, Arkansas, Indiana, Kentucky,
Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma, South
Carolina, Texas, and West Virginia. - The South had the highest
prevalence of obesity (29.5%), followed by the Midwest (29.0%),
the Northeast (25.3%) an