Report: Nearly 70% of state’s residents will be obese by 2030

NEW YORK — A group campaigning against obesity predicts that by 2030 more than half the people in 39 states will be obese — not merely overweight, but obese.

Mississippi is expected to retain its crown as the fattest state in the nation for at least two more decades. The report predicts 67 percent of that state’s adults will be obese by 2030; that would be an astounding increase from Mississippi’s current 35 percent obesity rate.

The new projections were released today by Trust for America’s Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The two organizations regularly report on obesity to raise awareness, and they rely on government figures.

But in this case, their dismal forecast goes beyond the 42 percent national obesity level that federal health officials project by 2030.

About two-thirds of Americans are overweight now. That includes those who are obese, a group that accounts for about 36 percent. Obesity rates have been holding steady in recent years.

Trust for America’s Health officials said the projections were based on state-by-state surveys by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention from 1999 through 2010. They said their projections are reasonable.

But their outlook suggests that even in the thinnest state — Colorado, where about one-fifth of residents are obese — 45 percent are predicted to be obese by 2030.

Perhaps more surprising — Delaware is expected to have obesity levels nearly as high as Mississippi. Delaware currently is in the middle of the pack when it comes to self-reported obesity rates.

The report didn’t detail why some states’ rates were expected to jump more than others.

CDC officials declined to comment on the new report.

Whichever estimates you trust most, it’s clear that the nation’s weight problem is going to continue, escalating the number cases of diabetes, heart disease and stroke, said Jeff Levi, executive director of Trust for America’s Health.

By 2030, medical costs from treating obesity-related diseases are likely to increase by $48 billion, to $66 billion per year, his report said.

The focus of so much of the ongoing debate about health care is over controlling costs, Levi said. “… We can only achieve it by addressing obesity. Otherwise, we’re just tinkering around the margins.”

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Listed are 2011 obesity levels followed by the Trust for America’s Health projections for 2030:

Mississippi, 35 percent, 67 percent

Oklahoma, 31 percent, 66 percent

Delaware, 29 percent, 65 percent

Tennessee, 29 percent, 63 percent

South Carolina, 31 percent, 63 percent

Alabama, 32 percent, 63 percent

Kansas, 30 percent, 62 percent

Louisiana, 33 percent, 62 percent

Missouri, 30 percent, 62 percent

Arkansas, 31 percent, 61 percent

South Dakota, 28 percent, 60 percent

West Virginia, 32 percent, 60 percent

Kentucky, 30 percent, 60 percent

Ohio, 30 percent, 60 percent

Michigan, 31 percent, 59 percent

Arizona, 25 percent, 59 percent

Maryland, 28 percent, 59 percent

Florida, 27 percent, 59 percent

North Carolina, 29 percent, 58 percent

New Hampshire, 26 percent, 58 percent

Texas, 30 percent, 57 percent

North Dakota, 28 percent, 57 percent

Nebraska, 28 percent, 57 percent

Pennsylvania, 29 percent, 57 percent

Wyoming, 25 percent, 57 percent

Wisconsin, 28 percent, 56 percent

Indiana, 31 percent, 56 percent

Washington, 27 percent, 56 percent

Maine, 28 percent, 55 percent

Minnesota, 26 percent, 55 percent

Iowa, 29 percent, 54 percent

New Mexico, 26 percent, 54 percent

Rhode Island, 25 percent, 54 percent

Illinois, 27 percent, 54 percent

Georgia, 28 percent, 54 percent

Montana, 25 percent, 54 percent

Idaho, 27 percent, 53 percent

Hawaii, 22 percent, 52 percent

New York, 25 percent, 51 percent

Virginia, 29 percent, 50 percent

Nevada, 25 percent, 50 percent

Oregon, 27 percent, 49 percent

Massachusetts, 23 percent, 49 percent

New Jersey, 24 percent, 49 percent

Vermont, 25 percent, 48 percent

California, 24 percent, 47 percent

Connecticut, 25 percent, 47 percent

Utah, 24 percent, 46 percent

Alaska, 27 percent, 46 percent

Colorado, 21 percent, 45 percent

District of Columbia, 24 percent, 33 percent

 

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3 Responses to “Report: Nearly 70% of state’s residents will be obese by 2030”

1. Concerned Citizen Says:
   September 19th, 2012 at 6:43 am

   When they (those who decide who fits the profile as obese) find that the majority of these obese people are African-American; then, as they have done with the scoring of test in our secondary schools, simply raise the BMI parameters so that not so many will be considered obese. I am sure they will make it a black/white socio-economic issue before it is over

2. Kevin Gregg Says:
   September 19th, 2012 at 9:18 am

   It’s not a race issue. It’s a GMO issue. CA’s Right To Know Act is a good start for this fat ass country. We’re #1, as usual…because it’s a bad statistical category for the States. The Non-GMO Project is about the only good stamp you can trust on a box in this country. GMOs (Genetically-Modified Foods) are $$$ to agri-business, and Mississippi is all about some agri-business. Monsanto, Mississippi State. I’m an Athletics fan.

   All GMOs should be banned, or they should be labeled. Wal-Mart sold guns, but they wouldn’t sell Nirvana’s first album. Reagan labeled all music with bad words “Parental Advisory – Explicit Lyrics”, but he didn’t ban violence on TV. Whatever these politicians want is what they get. But guess what, they’re just the puppets of the owners of this country. Corporate Personhood means any foreign member of any country on the board of any corporation can influence corporate policy, and we know that politicians are mere cards that the rich oligarchs in this plutocracy buy and stick in their back pockets.

   If the average citizen wasn’t purposefully dumbed down, ignorant, and if the US weren’t run like a slave farm to eliminate the middle class, maybe our education system wouldn’t be a cartel. Maybe we wouldn’t rank lower than 3rd world countries in quality of life and education. You can reply all you want to with your rose-colored, star-spangled eyes and ramble all you want to about your supposed freedoms, but when it comes down to it, there are better places to live. Don’t tell me to move; I can’t afford it. I didn’t ask to live here. Neither did the slaves…and this is still a slave-owning country, except it’s not a race issue — the slaves don’t even know they’re enslaved. Great job, America.

   KG

3. Bob Dillon Says:
   September 19th, 2012 at 12:44 pm

   I live in Mobile, Alabama. Here they have responded to the epidemic of obesity by outlawing smokiing outdoors. Yes, in Mobile, Alabama, there is a 70 dollar fine for smoking a cigarette outdoors. That will certainly take a bite of the obesity problems. Idiots!