A report revealed that obesity rates in the United States have increased in only six states for 2013 while the rest became stable especially on children. However, it also showed that obesity rates remained high.
The State of Obesity: Better Policies for a Healthier America report showed that in 2005, 49 of 50 states are consistently increasing their obesity rates on a yearly basis. But, in 2013, the number dropped to 6 states, only including Alaska, Idaho, New Jersey, Tennessee, Wyoming and Delaware. The rest was able to stabilize the obesity rates of their residents.
"We believe the F no longer stands for 'failure,'" Dr. Risa Lavizzo-Mourey, president and chief executive of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and Jeffrey Levi, executive director of Trust for America's Health told the Los Angeles Times.
The report also looked at the data of children obesity as it could predict future trend. The researchers found that obesity rates among children did not change from 2012. In 2012, 17 percent of children and young adults between 2 and 19 years old were obese, while 14 percent were overweight.
The researchers also highlighted poverty as the possible cause of the increasing rates citing 75 percent of the African Americans being overweight or obese, compared to 67 percent of whites, Reuters reported. The obesity rate of low-income families is also about 8 percent higher than those earning at least $50,000.
The authors also noted two states that exceeded 35 percent adult obesity rates for the first time: Mississippi and West Virginia. The top five most obese states were Arkansas (34.6 percent), Tennessee (33.7 percent), Kentucky (33.2 percent), Louisiana (33.1 percent) and Oklahoma (32.5 percent). The District of Columbia, Hawaii, and Colorado had the lowest rates.
These statistics will be used by public health experts in developing and improving programs that can help curb obesity. Health experts are disappointed that the national obesity rate did not decrease despite different efforts in place.
"Obesity rates are unacceptably high, and the disparities in rates are profoundly troubling," said Levi to Reuters.
