US obesity rate by state: Arkansas, West Virginia, Mississippi with highest prevalence of obese adults

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The new US obesity rate by state analysis was released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention last Monday and while the results showed steadiness, the numbers are still too high to be considered healthy.

According to State of Obesity, Arkansas has the highest obesity rate in the country at almost 36 percent, while West Virginia and Mississippi took the second and third places with 35.7 percent and 35.5 percent, respectively. Although the Midwest appears to be dominating the chart, states in the South are not far behind, with Louisiana getting a 34.9 percent obesity rate. Hawaii, D.C., and Colorado may have the lowest rates but they are still in the 20 percent range, suggesting that there is still a high prevalence of obesity in the country.

CNN reports that an alarming one-third of the American adult population are obese with almost 48 percent coming from the African-American community and 42.5 percent from the Latinos. Executive director of Trust for America's Health Jeff Levi shares that the report helped them identify the actual obesity situation on a state level.

Senior program officer from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Abbey Cofsky, MPH shares that the report only shows how obesity remains to be the leading health threat in the country, showing an alarming increase since the 80s and 90s, Medscape writes.

Besides adults, obesity rates among children have also increased over the past years, with one out of 12 children considered as morbidly obese between the ages of two and five. As for children aged six to 11, five percent are considered severely obese.

However, it is encouraging to see that only a few states show increased obesity rates, which could mean signs of progress. Similarly, many school districts, cities and states have reported a reduction in the childhood obesity rates based from past studies. Cofsky states that the nutrition programs conducted by federal health and making the issue of obesity their top priority, could have helped in the improvement.

Pierce Pioneer writes that the report has also highlighted some states that have leveled off or remained constant since the last survey. Take a look at the state of Minnesota, which remained to be the 15th lowest obesity rate in the US.

Dr. Ed Ehlinger, the state's Health Commissioner, shares that they have been looking at long-term goals and because of this, their rate have began to decline since 2008, stabilizing from then on. Ehlinger believes if Minnesota did not implement its health program, the state could have been on the top of the list.