Over the past year the rate in obesity did not decrease in any state of the US. The child obesity rate is now at and above 30 percent in 30 states.
These stats are from the sixth annual F as in Fat: How Obesity Policies are Failing in America, 2009 report, released July 1, by the Trust for America’s Health (TFAH) and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF). Contained within the report are recommendations for combating obesity within health reform and a state-by—state look into the child obesity rate, as well as, adults.
Mississippi ranked number one for adult rate in obesity for the fifth year in a row with a percentage of 32.5. Eight out of ten states that are within the 30 percent obese rate are located in the south. Some of these include Alabama (31.2 percent), West Virginia (31.1 percent) and Tennessee (30.2 percent).
The rate in obesity is growing to an epidemic level and studies show that the problem isn’t going away by itself. Two-thirds of American adults are either obese or overweight. Back just a short while ago in 1991, not a single state had over a 20 percent rate in obesity.
This is what Risa Lavizzo-Mourey, M.D., M.B.A., president and CEO of RWJF had to say. “Reversing the childhood obesity epidemic is a critical ingredient for delivering a healthier population and making health reform work. If we can prevent the current generation of young people from developing the serious and costly chronic conditions related to obesity, we can not only improve health and quality of life, but we can also save billions of dollars and make our health care systems more efficient and sustainable.”
The report included recommendations for lowering the rate in obesity such as: Providing adults and children with proper preventive medical help, promote programs that better nutrition and physical involvement, and increasing the number of programs available to communities that provide more cost effective nutrition options.
If these programs are put into place they will still not be enough on their own. We as Americans need to come together in order to beat the rate in obesity our nation is suffering from. Be supportive of others, offer a helping hand, make a donation to a worthy cause. Even the smallest of gesture can make a big difference in the world and possibly to someones life.
Together, we can beat this!
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Obesity is a growing health problem these days because people are too lazy to do some extra exercise and they eat too much. i always exercise and do cardio regularly to maintain a healthy weight.