VOICE TWO: The United States is facing a growing concern: rising obesity rates. A new report says adult obesity rates rose last year in twenty-three of the fifty states. No states showed a rate decrease. And, the percentage of obese or overweight children was at or above thirty percent in thirty states.
Two groups -- the Trust for America's Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation -- released the report earlier this month. They used a system of measurement called the Body Mass Index to define words like obese and overweight.
To find your B-M-I, divide your weight in kilograms by height in meters squared. A normal B-M-I is between eighteen point five and twenty-four point nine. The B-M-I of someone overweight is between twenty-five and twenty-nine point five. And, an obese person has a B-M-I above thirty.
VOICE ONE: The new report says widespread obesity is increasing the rates of chronic, or long-lasting, disease. It says obesity is responsible for an increasing part of health care costs in the United States.
Doctor Jeff Levi is head of the Trust for America's Health. He says health care costs have grown while many Americans are getting fatter.
Obesity has been linked to health problems like heart disease, stroke and type-two diabetes. The report says the current recession could worsen obesity rates by increasing food prices. It says this would make healthy foods cost more. The report blames the recession for rising rates of depression, anxiety and stress. It says the three conditions have been linked to obesity in many individuals.
VOICE TWO: Mississippi had the highest rate of adult obesity in the new study. Thirty-two point five percent of the state's adults were obese. In fact, Mississippi has had the highest rate of obese adults in each of the past five years. Three other states have rates above thirty percent last year. They were West Virginia, Alabama and Tennessee. Colorado was the only state with an adult obesity rate below twenty percent.
Mississippi also had the highest rate of obese and overweight children. Forty-four point four percent of all children between the ages of ten and seventeen years were obese or overweight. Minnesota and Utah had the lowest rate -- twenty-three point one percent.
The report offers some ideas for dealing with obesity within government health care reforms. They include making sure that every adult and child has a right to preventive medical services. The report also calls for creation of a national program to fight obesity.
