Rate of obesity continues to rise in United States

WASHINGTON — The rate of obesity among adults has increased across 16 states, with no states seeing a drop, according to a new report released by the Trust for America's Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

The report also found that 12 states now have obesity rates above 30%, versus four years ago when just one state had a 30% obesity rate, TFAH and RWJF said.

Mississippi this year took the top spot as the most obese state, with Colorado falling in last place. What's more, obesity rates have grown fastest in Oklahoma, Alabama and Tennessee, and slowest in Washington, D.C., Colorado and Connecticut.

Since 1995, when data was available for every state, obesity rates have doubled in seven states and increased by at least 90% in 10 others, TFAH and RWJF noted, adding that racial and ethnic minority adults, as well as those who are less educated and make less money, continue to garner the highest overall obesity rates.

“Today, the state with the lowest obesity rate would have had the highest rate in 1995,” TFAH executive director Jeff Levi said. “There was a clear tipping point in our national weight gain over the last 20 years, and we can’t afford to ignore the impact obesity has on our health and corresponding healthcare spending.”