Obesity gaining in the U.S, says report - which states are fattest?

(CBS/AP) Obesity rates are rapidly rising in the U.S.

Twenty years ago, no state had an obesity rate above 15 percent. Now, two-thirds of states report obesity rates over 25 percent.

The state with the lowest obesity rate as of 2010 - Colorado, with 19.8 percent of its adults obese - would have the highest obesity rate in the country if this were 1995.

F as in Fat: Top 15 fattest U.S. states

"When you look at it year by year, the changes are incremental," said Jeffrey Levi, executive director of Trust for America's Health, the organization that co-authored the report with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. "When you look at it by a generation you see how we got into this problem."

How bad is the problem?

Not a single state reported a decrease in obesity rates this year. On the bright side, "only" sixteen states reported obesity rate increases this year - compared to a whopping 28 states last year. Levi says those increases have been gradually slowing, most likely due to public health campaigns and government attempts to give schools and consumers better access to healthier foods. But slowing down is not necessarily good news.

"We're leveling off to some degree at an unacceptably high level," Levi said.

And that can prove dangerous for many Americans, since obesity is linked to serious health problems like diabetes, hypertension, and heart disease.

Which 15 states have the most obese citizens? Click here to find out.