US obesity rates continue their climb, according to figures from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System. The following is from a series of 2005-2007 annual telephone surveys taken from 350,000 adults:
· The percentage of obese clients went up from 23.9% to 25.6%
· All US states and Washington, DC, failed to meet the Healthy People 2010 goal, being that the percentage of obese adults be less than or equal to 15%
· Colorado reported the lowest adult obesity rate with 18.7%
· Alabama, Mississippi and Tennessee all reported adult obesity rates of over 30%
· Southern states report higher obesity rates (27%) than the Midwest (25.3%), the Northeast (23.3%) and the West (22.1%).
The BMI figures were calculated from the respondents' answers to questions about their height and weight.
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Source: "State-Specific Prevalence of Obesity Among Adults United States, 2007." US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). MMWR, Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, July 18, 2008 / Vol. 57 / No. 28 / pp 765-768.
