New data on obesity is out, and according to some really smart people, we're all still fat. Unfortunately, it's hard to say if the problem is getting better or worse because the CDC established a new method for analyzing the data, and thus a new baseline, making comparisons with previous years meaningless.
Texas is still one of the largest states, in area, population and waist size with an obesity prevalence of more than 30 percent. Meanwhile Colorado is still the thinnest, making me wonder if Denver-based Smashburger is doing its part to round out America.
Later this summer Trust for America's Health will release the next edition of it's annual report, "F as in Fat: How Obesity Threatens America's Future." Last year's report was the first to look at how fatness data has changed over the past two decades. This year the report will look forward, forecasting 2030 obesity rates in each state and the likely resulting rise in obesity-related disease rates and health care costs.
New baseline or not, I'll bet the extrapolated data is BIG.
