WASHINGTON, July 1, 2009
Which State Has Fattest People?
Mississippi Still Tops In U.S. Obesity Rankings; Alabama Has Most Obese Seniors
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(CBS/AP)
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It's time for the nation's annual obesity rankings and, outside of fairly lean Colorado, there's little good news. Obesity rates among adults rose in 23 states over the past year and didn't decline anywhere, says a new report from the Trust for America's Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
And while the nation has long been bracing for a surge in Medicare as the boomers start turning 65, the new report makes clear that fat, not just age, will fuel much of those bills. In every state, the rate of obesity is higher among 55- to 64-year-olds - the oldest boomers - than among today's 65-and-beyond.
That translates into a coming jump of obese Medicare patients that ranges from 5.2 percent in New York to a high of 16.3 percent in Alabama, the report concluded. In Alabama, nearly 39 percent of the oldest boomers are obese.
Health economists once made the harsh financial calculation that the obese would save money by dying sooner, notes Jeff Levi, executive director of the Trust, a nonprofit public health group. But more recent research instead suggests they live nearly as long but are much sicker for longer, requiring such costly interventions as knee replacements and diabetes care and dialysis. Studies show Medicare spends anywhere from $1,400 to $6,000 more annually on health care for an obese senior than for the non-obese.
"There isn't a magic bullet. We don't have a pill for it," said Levi, whose group is pushing for health reform legislation to include community-level programs that help people make healthier choices - like building sidewalks so people can walk their neighborhoods instead of drive, and providing healthier school lunches.
"It's not going to be solved in the doctor's office but in the community, where we change norms," Levi said.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has long said that nearly a third of Americans are obese. The Trust report uses somewhat more conservative CDC surveys for a closer state-by-state look. Among the findings:
© MMIX The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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See all 25 CommentsHere Republicans ..here is the cycle so you can inderstand and not be like geese that wake up in a new world every morning wondering how more government keeps coming. OK..rich ignore the little people ..don't care if have no money for retirement ..then comes social security. Then rich don't care if old people have no money to pay for medical care...then comes medicare. Then rich don't care that 30 millin people can't get medical care ...then comes national healthcare program. NOW do YOU get IT???
Change the Food Stamp program - disqualify junk food and soda and they'll drop a ton. Make them work in a vegetable garden in exchange for their Food Stamps and they'll drop another ton. Make them work, period. They'll drop a ton when they can no longer sit at home and worship their fridge.
My father died at 67 of a heart attack. He suffered from diabetes brought on my obesity, had gone blind, had a foot and toes and fingers amputated.
My mother is 93, and is healthy, alert, lucid and active. She say's she's going for 100.
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It amazes me that gluttony is more powerful than health risks and pride in personal appearance in so many.
This is a puff piece?
The single biggest cause of death in this country is heart disease which is caused almost exclusively by OBESITY; Overeating and lack of exercise.
AND IT COSTS EVERYONE MILLIONS OF DOLLARS.
Only a republican would think that personal health is a silly matter.
Stunning stupidity.
How incredibly idiotic that you bring up socialism, as if it's something that only Obama is doing. Newsflash, Einstein - programs like Medicare and Social Security, which have been around many, many years, ARE Socialism.
But I'm sure you will be refusing both when you turn 65 since you are so against it.
This is one more failure of the FDA. The farm states have too much political clout for the FDA to stop this dangerous substance made from corn going into food and soft drinks.
Statistically, 3% of the obese suffer from hyper-thyroid although about 75% of the obese appear to claim to sufferf rom same.
Corn syrup is not the villian.
Their own gluttony is.
Many GM Foods contain the Bt-toxin that is not only toxic to insects, but also to mice, dogs, sheep, goats, cattle and me. Unlike real sugar [sucrose], high fructose corn syrup is addictive, creating a strong desire for more.
Left in a hot car, a diet soda can end up with wood alcohol & formaldehyde from the break down of the aspartame. [possible cause of Gulf War Syndrome] Both are neurotoxins that cause a loss of cognitive ability.
Put chocolate gravy on their biscuits for breakfast.
Consider Little Debbie products a food group.
Make Sweet Tea with so much sugar that they have to boil it to disolve it all.
But Misissippi?
It would be interesting to know if there is a direct correlation between obesity and family income. Cheap eating is usually unhealthy eating. (Think pasta, cheese, potatoes, bacon, bread etc.) When you're on a restricted budget you look for the most calories for the buck in food. Fresh produce doesn't fit in there.
Certainly that doesn't explain all obesity. Every one of us knows people who can afford to eat healthy foods but instead live at Burger King. But it might help explain those obesity rates in the south.
A little too much welfare flowing in that direction?
Medical procedures that try to correct the results of personal neglect.
Why would you seek to change the subject and discuss immigration when the article is about health? Why don't you seek out an article on immigration an express your opinion there?
Maybe it's all in their diet of southern-fried junk food that also makes them vote against their best interests!
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