The fat of the land is in the South:
Georgia weighs in at No. 12 in U.S.

By Bob Dart
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
August 30, 2006

Washington - Hold those MoonPies, honey chile. According to a national report released Tuesday, the fattest Americans live in Dixie.

Eight of the 10 states with the most obese populations are in the South – nine if you count West Virginia as Southern, as the report does.

Georgia ranked 12th, with 25.5 percent of the adult population classified as obese for the three-year period of 2003 to 2005, according to the report by Trust for America's Health.

The annual report, titled "F as in Fat: How Obesity Policies Are Failing in America," labels the South the nation's "Biggest Belt" but warns that the porkiness plague is nationwide and growing, and that it carries serious health consequences.

"This is something we all have to address," said Jeffrey P. Koplan, vice president for academic affairs at Emory University's Woodruff Health Science Center and chairman of the Institute of Medicine Committee on Progress in Preventing Childhood Obesity. "It's a nationwide problem."

In every state and the District of Columbia, more than half the adults are either overweight or obese, and obesity rates rose in 31 states over the past year, the report found.

However, "the region of the country with the biggest challenge is the South," said Jeff Levi, executive director of the Trust for America's Health, an advocacy group seeking more public spending on health programs.

Of the 13 states where more than one in every four adults was obese, 10 were in the South, the report said.

Mississippi was the plumpest, with 29.5 percent of adults classified as obese for the three-year period. It was followed, in order, by Alabama, West Virginia, Louisiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, South Carolina and Indiana - which tied for eighth - Texas, Michigan, Georgia and Oklahoma.

Of the other Southern states, North Carolina was 17th, Virginia 25th and Florida 35th.

The report's Southern region is also home to most of the states with the highest rates of diabetes and hypertension, two diseases often associated with obesity. Georgia ranked seventh in diabetes frequency and 11th in incidence of hypertension.

"We don't know" why obesity is more prevalent in the South, Levi said. It could involve "socioeconomic factors" and "cultural factors, including diet," he said.

The states with the highest obesity rates also have high poverty rates.

However, "the trend has been up in every state, the trend has been up for every ethnic group, the trend has been up for rich and poor," said Koplan, a former director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.

Even in Colorado, the state with the skinniest population, the obesity rate increased over the past year to 17.8 percent, compared to 16.9 percent for the three-year period. Nevada was the only state to show a decrease in the percentage of obese adults over the past year.

The study defines obesity as "an excessively high amount of body fat or adipose tissue in relation to lean body mass." It uses the body mass index, or BMI, to measure this relationship between weight and height.

The BMI is determined by dividing a person's weight in pounds by height in inches squared and multiplying that figure by 703. Adults with a BMI of 30 or higher are considered obese, while those with a BMI of 25 to 29.9 are overweight.

For example, a person 5 feet 10 inches tall who weighs 210 pounds would have a BMI of 30.1 and be considered obese.

Critics charge that the BMI is a flawed measure of whether a person is overweight, pointing out that athletes with significant muscle mass could be in great shape, but considered fat by the measure. At 5 feet 7 inches tall and 201 pounds, Tom Cruise's BMI is 31, claimed the Center for Consumer Freedom, an advocacy group funded by the restaurant and processed food industries.

At a call-in news conference, Levi and Koplan said that maintaining a healthy weight is an individual responsibility, but also a concern of society and government.

"If we're urging people to walk more, and their streets are not safe, that's an unrealistic expectation," Levi said. Likewise, it is futile to recommend a diet of fresh fruits and vegetables to people who can't afford such products or don't have access to a supermarket.

"It's a shared responsibility," he said.

Copyright 2006 The Atlanta Journal Constitution. More information: www.ajc.com

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