KTVN Channel 2 - Reno Tahoe News Weather, Video - Gov't Survey: Southeast, Appalachia Have Highest Obesity Rates
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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% 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% 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%. The national rate is about 26%. 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% of people considered obese.
(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
