This is a bit terrifying. America's weight problem is obvious -- 35 % of us are overweight or obese with a BMI greater than or equal to 30. Welcome to the United States of Bariatric Surgery. I call it.
- The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently mapped out the percentage of obese Americans by state using 2011 data, finding that greater percentages of obese people tend to reside in the south.
- In fact, 34.9 percent of Mississippi residents were considered to be obese in 2011, making it the most obese state in America. Colorado, on the other hand, had the lowest percentage of obese citizens, at 20.7 percent.
- While this number falls far under the national average, not a single state had fewer than 20 percent obese residents.
Obesity is common, serious and costly
- More than one-third of U.S. adults (35.7%) are obese. [Read data brief
[PDF-528Kb]] - 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]
Obesity affects some groups more than others
- Non-Hispanic blacks have the highest age-adjusted rates of obesity (49.5%) compared with Mexican Americans (40.4%), all Hispanics (39.1%) and non-Hispanic whites (34.3%) [See JAMA. 2012;307(5):491-497. doi:10.1001/jama.2012.39].
Obesity and socioeconomic status
[Read data brief [PDF-1.07Mb]]
- Among non-Hispanic black and Mexican-American men, those with higher incomes are more likely to be obese than those with low income.
- Higher income women are less likely to be obese than low-income women.
- There is no significant relationship between obesity and education among men. Among women, however, there is a trend—those with college degrees are less likely to be obese compared with less educated women.
- Between 1988–1994 and 2007–2008 the prevalence of obesity increased in adults at all income and education levels.
