by Brian Merchant, Brooklyn, New York
Here’s a newsflash: America is still really fat. And a new Gallup poll reveals that we’re continuing to get even fatter in some new and exciting ways. For instance, the latest report reveals that there is now not a single state in which fewer than one in five people are obese. The lowest obesity rate in the nation is 20.1%. That’s Colorado, our most fit state. That’s disturbing.
Here’s Gallup:
Colorado continues to boast the lowest obesity rate in the country, at 20.1%. This is unchanged from 2010, but up from 19.5% in 2009 and 18.2% in 2008. There is now no state in the nation that has an obesity rate lower than 20%.
In the U.S. overall, 26.3% are obese so far in 2011, which is about on par with the 26.6% who were obese in 2010, but remains higher than 25.5% in 2008.
What’s more, the fattest state in the nation has just gotten even fatter. West Virginia, already the state with the highest obesity rate, has seen that rate increase. The poll finds that “34% of West Virginia residents are obese … This is up from 33.5% in 2010 and is the highest Gallup has measured for any state since it began tracking obesity rates in 2008.”
One in three people are obese in West Virginia — that’s a truly staggering number. But one in four for the rest of the nation, and one in five in our slimmest states ain’t much better. This problem is getting worse (I hardly need to point that out), and reversing the trend will take some serious back-to-the-drawing-board thinking …
(Source: www.treehugger.com )