Topping the fat list ... again
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For the fourth year in a row, Mississippi is ranked No. 1 in the CDC's obesity survey.
Yet again, Mississippi tops the list in a national survey of obesity.
It has been ranked the fattest state in America since 2004, and this year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that more than 30 percent of the state’s adult population is considered obese.
The results are not surprising — at least for the Delta region — to Carol Connell, associate professor of nutrition in food systems at the University of Southern Mississippi. Connell is part of a team that’s “done a good bit of research” in the region, tracking food intake patterns.
“In that area of the state where we’ve done studies,” she said, “adults are not eating the recommended amounts of fruits and vegetables. … They have generally less optimal diets overall.”
Obesity is based on the body mass index, a calculation using height and weight. A 5-foot, 9-inch adult who weighs 203 pounds would have a BMI of 30, which is considered the threshold for obesity.
In addition to the state’s notoriously unhealthy favorites — deep fried everything, vegetables swimming in butter and sweet tea by the gallon — Connell’s research showed that adults were not getting enough vitamin A and C, calcium or iron.
“We think education is part of it, but not all of it,” she said. “Obesity involves a lot of factors, not just eating but exercise and genetic composition. It’s not just about changing your eating habits but level of physical activity as well.”
Connell worked with researchers at Alcorn University, Pennington Biomedical Research in Louisiana, Southern University in Louisiana, University of Arkansas Medical Science, University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff and the USDA, working in Mississippi, Arkansas and Louisiana. The team was formed to address health disparities in the Delta, and economic issues.
But the group’s findings can be applied across the state and region, she said.
“The same thing is going on across the nation,” she said. “We’re taking in a lot more calories than we burn … if you look at it overall, at the whole map of obesity, a lot of Southern states have a high rate of obesity. It goes back to our culture, the way we eat with frying, and a lot of sugary beverages like tea and Coke.
“We need to stop the upward trend.”
The South has had high death rates from heart disease and stroke, health risks that have been linked to obesity. And while the survey was only done on adults, the state also has alarmingly high rates of childhood obesity; a statewide survey released in 2004 showed nearly a fourth of elementary-age children were overweight.
In the CDC report, Colorado was the thinnest state, with about 19 percent of obese adults. It was conducted by random phone calls to residents in each state.
