America’s Most Obese Cities

Is your hometown on the list?  Number one was Memphis, TN, with a 34% obesity rate, which is over the national average. 
See where your city landed in this slide show.

Unfortunately, obesity affects over one third of the American population and does not discriminate between race, ethnicities, socioeconomic status or gender.  The causes, researchers say, are numerous; which include a diet rich in calories and low nutrients, sedentary lifestyle and bad habits.  Not only does this epidemic have many causes, but also brings major costs.  Costs associated with obesity are as much as $93 billion to the nation’s medical bill each year, with over 112,000 people losing their lives due to obestiy related diseases.  These include Type 2 diabetes, heart disease and cancer.

Forbes magazine collected data from the 2006 CDC reports on Body Mass Index (BMI) collected through phone interviews with those in metropolitan areas.  Not only are larger metropolitan areas affected by obesity, but small rural towns struggle as well.  For the survey purposes, only larger cities were questioned. 

So how do we fix this national problem?  Experts recommend a community wide lifestyle change, with a healthier diet, increased physical activity and environments that promote exercise. 

Visit entire article here.

Add comment December 11th, 2007