Statistics show that America’s obesity epidemic is still deepening on the whole, but how does it break down by individual state? We thought it would be interesting to take a look at how the states compare when it comes to body weight statistics within the last 20 years, and attempt to hypothesize about the statistical disparity between them.
We should point out a couple of important things before getting to the statistics that provide context for why these numbers matter.
First, the clinical definition of obesity is having a Body Mass Index (BMI) of 30 or higher. BMI has a directly proportional relationship with increased risk of developing over 59 other chronic diseases, such as Type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, and even some forms of cancer. It’s important to know the standard method of measuring and diagnosing obesity so you can personally understand where you fit into the big picture.
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Tags: national, obesity, rates, united states