Obesity Rates are Predominantly Highest in
Communities Experiencing Barriers to Healthy Eating and Those with
Few Opportunities for Physical Activity
WASHINGTON, Sept. 12, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Obesity rates for
U.S. adults were at or higher than 35 percent in twenty-three
states in 2023, part of a multi-decade increase in the rates of
Americans living with obesity, according to a report released today
by Trust for America's Health (TFAH). In 2012, no state had an
adult obesity rate at or above the 35 percent level.
The report, State of Obesity 2024: Better Policies for a
Healthier America includes TFAH's analysis of the latest data
from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC)
Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System. Obesity and other
diet-related diseases are associated with a range of physical and
mental health conditions, higher mortality, higher healthcare
costs, and productivity losses.
The states with the highest rates of obesity among adults in
2023 were West Virginia (41.2
percent), Mississippi (40.1
percent), Arkansas (40.0 percent),
Louisiana (39.9 percent), and
Alabama (39.2 percent). Between
2022 and 2023, three states experienced statistically significant
increases in their adult obesity rates: Alaska, Arkansas, and Oregon, while no states had
a statistically significant decline. Between 2018 and 2023, 28
states have experienced statistically significant increases in
adult obesity rates.
States with lowest levels of adult obesity in 2023 were
District of Columbia (23.5
percent), Colorado (24.9 percent),
Hawaii (26.1 percent),
Massachusetts (27.4 percent), and
California (27.7 percent).
Nationally, over four in 10 U.S. adults have obesity. While
obesity rates have increased for all population groups, groups with
the highest rates, often populations of color, typically face
structural barriers to healthy eating, including food cost and
access, and a lack of opportunities and places to be physically
active. Black and Latino adults and people living in rural
communities tend to have the highest rates of obesity.
Obesity rates are also increasing among children and
adolescents, with nearly 20 percent of U.S. children and
adolescents, ages 2 to 19, having obesity. These rates have more
than tripled since the mid-1970s, and Black and Latino youth have
substantially higher rates of obesity compared to their white
peers.
A special section within the report looks at the country's food
environment and factors that affect food consumption such as food
policy, supply, access, and pricing, and the influence of food
advertising on what people eat. The section discusses opportunities
for policymakers to make the food environment more conducive to
healthy eating, especially within low-income communities.
"As the number of people living with obesity, as well as the
rates of obesity-related disease continue to rise, there's an
urgent need for systems level policy responses," said J.
Nadine Gracia, M.D., MSCE, President
and CEO of Trust for America's Health. "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. Policymakers need to act to address this growing
health crisis."
Policy action is needed
The report includes evidence-based policy recommendations for
federal, state, and local officials, as well as other stakeholders
such as the healthcare sector and the food industry. Recommended
policy actions include:
Increase federal resources for effective efforts that reduce
obesity-related disparities and related conditions including
funding for CDC's chronic disease and obesity prevention
programs, including State Physical Activity and Nutrition,
Racial and Ethnic Approaches to Community Health, and
Healthy Tribes programs.
Decrease food and nutrition insecurity while improving the
nutritional quality of available foods in every community by,
among other activities, providing healthy school meals for all
students and maintaining progress on the final 2024 school
nutritional meal standards. In addition, Congress should expand
access to nutrition support programs such as the Supplemental
Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and the Special
Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children
(WIC) and increase the value of their benefits.
To help consumers make informed choices, the Food and Drug
Administration should swiftly implement a front-of-package
label that will help people more easily understand the
nutrients in packaged foods.
Eliminate tax loopholes and business cost deductions for the
advertising of unhealthy foods and beverages to children.
Healthy food and drink choices can also be encouraged by taxing
sugar-sweetened beverages.
Ensure that every community has a built environment that
encourages active transportation, e.g., walking and biking to
everyday destinations, and safe places to be physically active
including parks and other places for indoor and outside play.
Policymakers, healthcare, public health, and other
stakeholders should close gaps in healthcare access by expanding
Medicaid and by making marketplace coverage more affordable.
Medicaid, Medicare, and other payers should cover obesity-related
services without patient cost sharing.
Congress should address root causes of chronic diseases by
incentivizing multi-sector collaborations to address social and
nonmedical drivers of health and healthcare and insurers should
continue to expand strategies to screen and reimburse for patients'
health-related social needs.
Read the full report:
https://www.tfah.org/report-details/state-of-obesity-2024
Trust for America's Health is a nonprofit,
nonpartisan public health research, policy, and advocacy
organization that promotes optimal health for every person and
community and makes the prevention of illness and injury a national
priority. www.tfah.org
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SOURCE Trust for America's Health