My state's claim to fame!

Mississippi remains most obese state, CDC reports

By MIKE STOBBE, AP Medical Writer Thu Jul 17, 12:36 PM ET

ATLANTA - Mississippi, Alabama and Tennessee lead the nation when it comes to obesity, a new government survey reported Thursday.

More than 30 percent of adults in each of the states tipped the scales enough to ensure 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.

Why is the South so heavy? The traditional Southern diet — high in fat and fried food — may be part of the answer, said Dr. William Dietz, who heads CDC's nutrition, physical activity and obesity division.

The South also has a large concentration of rural residents and black women — two groups that tend to have higher obesity rates, he said.

Colorado, meanwhile, is a state with a reputation for exercise. It has plentiful biking and hiking trails, and an elevation that causes the body to labor a bit more, Dietz said.

Obesity is based on the body mass index, a calculation using height and weight. A 5-foot, 9-inch adult who weighs 203 pounds would have a BMI of 30, which is considered the threshold for obesity.

CDC officials believe the telephone survey of 350,000 adults offers conservative estimates of obesity rates, because it's based on what respondents said about their height and weight. Men commonly overstate their height and women often lowball their weight, health experts say.

"The heavier you are, the more you underestimate your weight, probably because you don't weigh yourself as often," Dietz said.

Overall, about 26 percent of the respondents were obese, according to the study, published this week in CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

A different CDC survey — a gold-standard project in which researchers actually weigh and measure survey respondents — put the adult obesity rate at 34 percent in 2005 and 2006, the most recent years for which there are data.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080717/...obesity_states

I hope you don't fall into that category. Obesity means you fail at life and taking care of yourself.

My family thinks I"m too skinny, actually. =o

Wtf happened to Cali, KJ? You aren't gonna find as many crackheads on city streets down there asking for bjs.

You need to keep up with the news.

I hope you don't fall into that category. Obesity means you fail at life and taking care of yourself.

You need to seriously stop with the posts man...I keep pissing myself because you make me laugh so damn hard

Although I largely disagree with the CDC and those other nutjobs on what is or isn't obese. I mean seriously I have seen people around 203 lbs. in that same height range of 5'9". That isn't obese. No fucking way in hell.

Besides these are the retards who think being over 180 lbs. is fat and that people should be anorexic. Seriously this guy was being called obese by their standards and this man was buff. It's all a load of BS. They want people to be paper clip thin and only have 20-40 lbs. of muscle on them. Fucking retarded CDC. Neil Diamond needs to shut his fucking pussy hole. He wouldn't last 2 seconds standing against me physically. He wouldn't even be able to start standing against me mentally either. Fucking retard. This is what really will kill Americans. You will all get paper thin and weak and won't even be able to handle taming animals or working fields. You will then all starve to death because no one will be strong enough to farm or hunt.

God damned dumbass health officials are going to make people hate us medical professionals. I swear to god that someday I WILL hire Chuck Norris to kick those assholes and crush their heads in between his thighs. Then we will see who is "healthy" and "obese".

He is right, though. However, the people who have glandular problems are exempt. They have a genuine reason for being the way they are and truly suffer something none should have to.

Parents are a big issue with obesity. When their kids are young, many give them sweets and go to fast food places a lot, making their children accustomed to the food. So when their kids grow up, they are already fat because of their parents, and they eat the food their parents taught them was good. So they get more obese, and eventually look like the 300 Ib. people seen throughout America today.

Not even always that. Sometimes parents just don't get their kids to exercise because they feel they can't be arsed to do so.