There’s no good way to put this: 63.1% of Texans are overweight. That’s according to a new peer-reviewed study from the Trust for America’s Health, entitled “F as in Fat: How Obesity Policies are Failing in America.” On the bright side, Texas may not be getting fatter. The report measures a .5% increase over the 2006 figures, but since this survey comes with a +/-1% margin of error, that’s what the expert call statistically insignificant.
However, no reaching for a celebratory chalupa: 26.3% of all adults and 19.1% of kids are obese. (Trust us, Chronic is throwing no stones on this issue: we would, but it seems like a lot of effort. It’s that kind of thinking that has helped us become the eighth most inactive state.)
Looking nationally, Mississippi is the fattest and most inactive state. On the health-related diseases front, it also has the dubious honor of the highest rates for hypertension. But West Virginia has the highest adult diabetes rates, and neighboring Washington D.C. takes the title for child diabetes.
For those of you with the energy, the full report can be found here.
This article appears in August 24 • 2007.
