Report: West Virginia leads the nation in adult obesity rates
23 days ago
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- West Virginia has the highest rate of obesity among adults in the nation, a new report concludes.
According to the study by the nonprofit Trust for America’s Health (TFAH), 41.2 percent of West Virginians were considered obese in 2023, just ahead of Mississippi (40.1 percent) and Arkansas (40.0 percent).
The CDC defines obesity as a body mass index (BMI) of 30 or higher for adults 20 and older.
Individuals with obesity are at greater risk for certain health conditions, officials say. The CDC says the disease can increase risk of:
High blood pressure and high cholesterol, both of which are risk factors for heart disease;
Type 2 diabetes;
Breathing problems, such as asthma and sleep apnea;
Joint problems; and
Gallstones and gallbladder disease.
Obesity also has an economic impact, the CDC notes. One 2021 report found that obesity-related medical care expenses cost Americans $173 billion. Obesity-related absenteeism leads to a nationwide productivity loss of between $3.38 billion and $6.38 billion per year, according to experts.
Socioeconomic, environmental factors in obesity
Officials say that while individual behavior does play a factor in the state obesity rate, the root cause goes much deeper.
“The obesity epidemic is not only about individual behavior; socioeconomic and environmental factors which are largely beyond any one person's control have a significant role,” Dr. J. Nadine Gracia, MD, said in a release announcing TFAH's new report. “Policymakers need to act to address this growing health crisis."
WVU Research Assistant Professor Joshua Lohnes said some of the blame for the nation’s food insecurity -- and, ultimately, the rise in poor food options that lead to obesity -- falls on the federal government and corporate agri-business.
“The federal government is complicit in a food system that segments people along racial and economic lines," Lohnes said. “We face troubling concentrations of power in the agri-business and corporate food sectors that reinforce these inequalities."
In response to their report’s findings, TFAH has released a list of recommended policy actions they think would help both state and federal agencies better respond to the ongoing obesity epidemic. Their suggestions include:
Increasing federal resources to reduce obesity-related disparities;
Decreasing food and nutrition insecurity while improving the nutritional quality of available foods;
Encouraging the FDA to implement a front-of-package label to help consumers make informed nutrition choices; and
Addressing root causes of chronic diseases by incentivizing multi-sector collaborations to address social and non-medical drivers of health, among other recommendations.
Get updates delivered to you daily. Free and customizable.
It’s essential to note our commitment to transparency:
Our Terms of Use acknowledge that our services may not always be error-free, and our Community Standards emphasize our discretion in enforcing policies. As a platform hosting over 100,000 pieces of content published daily, we cannot pre-vet content, but we strive to foster a dynamic environment for free expression and robust discourse through safety guardrails of human and AI moderation.