In spite of recent efforts to make the nation healthier, such as healthy school lunches and an overall decrease in soft drink consumption, the United States still has an obesity problem according to a recent report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). And Georgia is no exception to the national trend.
According to the report, Georgia has the 24th highest rate of obesity in the country with an overall obesity rate of 31.6 percent in 2017. This means that, on average, one in three adults in Georgia is obese.
Obesity is especially prevalent in the state’s African-American population, a trend that Andy Miller of Georgia Health News says is also represented in the national data. In fact, Georgia is one of 31 states that has an obesity rate at or above 35 percent in Non-Hispanic black adults.
Overall trends indicate that the Southern and Midwestern states have the worst obesity rates while the Western and Northeast regions have the lowest obesity rates. Colorado has the lowest rate at 22.6 percent of adults, and West Virginia has the highest rate at 38.1 percent. The nation’s overall rate was 30.1 percent.
The report also shows that in the past five years, seven states, Alabama, Arkansas, Iowa, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma and West Virginia, have obesity rates that have increased to at or above 35 percent.
In Miller’s Georgia Health News report, he lists several factors other than eating poorly that can contribute to obesity, including economic disparities and education gaps.
Georgia’s obesity rate has increased slightly from 30.5 percent in 2014.
For more information, see the CDC’s map below.