Gov't survey shows Southeast and Appalachia have highest obesity rates

ATLANTA (AP) - The government's first obesity survey conducted on a county level is confirming past studies that show the rates are highest in the Southeast and Appalachia.

By: The Associated Press | WNCT
Published: November 19, 2009

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ATLANTA (AP) - The government's first obesity survey conducted on a county level is confirming past studies that show the rates are highest in the Southeast and Appalachia.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention finds that 80 percent of counties in the Appalachian regions of Kentucky, Tennessee and West Virginia have high rates of obesity and diabetes. Type 2 diabetes is closely linked to obesity.
The same problem is found in 75 percent of counties in Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Georgia and South Carolina.
Five small, rural counties in Alabama and Mississippi have the highest rates, at around 44 percent. The national rate is about 26 percent.
The lowest rates of both obesity and diabetes were in the west. Boulder County, Colo., Santa Fe County, N.M., and Summit County, Utah, were at the top of each list, with just under 13 percent of people considered obese.