The Obesity Index: The Cost of Obesity by State

24/7 Wall St.:

24/7 Wall St. looked at the percentage of obesity in each state and compared it to the state's population, as reported by the 2009 census. We then took the total population suffering from obesity and multiplied that number by $1,429. The following is the rate of obesity by state, highest to lowest, and the possible cost to treat obesity-related illnesses by state.

Read the whole story: 24/7 Wall St.

Comments

[Lulubelle1]

03:55 AM on 08/10/2010

Surprise. The states that least want healthcare reform and universal coverage are going to need it the most, and cost us the most. Yet another instance in which the donor states will have to pick up the tab for the states which get back more tax dollars than they contribute.

Peachy.

Go for a walk or at least march around while you protest, Tea Partiers. You're costing us all.

[mstock57]

07:34 PM on 08/09/2010

Most of the states are down south where they deep fry everything.

[graffitijoe]

08:56 PM on 08/09/2010

...and where the African Americans live.

[bisbeeornotbisbee]

01:04 PM on 08/08/2010

I believe the best first step would be for high fructose corn syrup to be banned from all products. Sugar should be used for a sweetener, if at all. Exercise is extremely important as is portion control, and staying away from highly processed foods. Naturally, portion control is also very important. I don't understand why there hasn't been a groundswell of support for banning high fructose corn syrup. It was when that began appearing in foods, that Americans really started becoming obese.

[BillBadger]

01:39 PM on 08/08/2010

High Fructose Corn Syrup will elevate and hold my brother's blood sugar level for disturbing amounts of time, in contrast, cane sugar will spike it, but then it will retun to normal very quickly (it metabolizes). Mind you, he is the kind of guy that hates hippies, treehuggers and yuppies, and thinks organic food is a crock....But, he sticks a needle in his hand several times a day and has come to the conclusion HFC is bad for him relative to sugar, and that the slightest bit of sugar in an iced tea really works for those who want to treat themselves to a nice cool beverage....This (one of many solutions) is better than a giant load of syrup, and this is very economical, and this would reduce obesity in the U.S., And this might help shut up the people that have never had a weight problem that raise their self esteem by ridiculing people that are over weight. Nice.

[TruEngineHearing]

11:04 AM on 08/08/2010

Red staters love that delicious 2nd Amendment cuisine - put your gun on the dinner table and refuse to eat broccoli. That'll show those liberal nanny staters.

[TruEngineHearing]

10:35 AM on 08/08/2010

How is it that those anti-liberal, judgmental red states are the biggest failures at controlling obesity? It should be crystal clear that red staters are against healthy lifestyles like libertarians are against guided tours.

[graffitijoe]

08:57 PM on 08/09/2010

If you check the demographics of the states in question you will notice that the Obesity index closely mirrors the percentage of African Americans in the state.

[TruEngineHearing]

10:04 AM on 08/11/2010

More significant is the fact that the lower-income neighborhoods are famous for fast-food choices - tons of them, and much less access to quality food choices.

But I suspect you were going somewhere else with your choice of facts...

[munki]

01:46 AM on 08/08/2010

W O W !!!!

It should be down to 10% cross the board !

Now, I feel I am big... will eat more veggie and do more exercise...

No Carb... promise!

[stargazer13]

02:21 PM on 08/07/2010

food is lacking in nutritional value some by 30% + wonder could that have any thing to do with it !!

[bisbeeornotbisbee]

02:02 PM on 08/08/2010

True! I once read an article about how foods nowadays have so much fewer nutrients than they did in the 1950s. That includes fresh produce, such as spinach. I have never taken the time to do so, but I believe if one were to devise a good, balanced diet for the average person, then check the nutrient levels of those foods, that we would get nowhere near the necessary nutrients. Taking vitamins isn't really the answer, either. Many cannot be properly digested. Of course that doesn't matter to the makers of them. We need an overhaul to our foods. We need to ban certain additives (HFCS for one), revert back to vegetables that had 1950s levels of nutrients, and educate people on how to provide nutritious meals at a low cost. Of course, Corporatists aren't going to want to see a push away from highly processed foods.

[stargazer13]

02:19 PM on 08/07/2010

blame the big people blame the unemployed blame the home owner

but never dare blame big banks , media or elected

[CanadianBeef]

03:11 AM on 08/07/2010

A tornado flattened my house. But my bank was able to save the mortgage.

[stargazer13]

02:22 PM on 08/07/2010

how very helpful of them to save the mortgage and nothing else :)

[IndependentBadger]

11:01 PM on 08/06/2010

It is rather one-dimensional to only use obesity as a measure for the cost of obesity. I come from Wisconsin, traditionally considered a rather "fat" state. On this list we were ranked 35th, I believe. This is nonsense. When one takes into account medical facilities, access to health care, the genetic composition of the population, the average age, the extent of educational attainment, and use of natural resources like parks, lakes, and forests, our "health and fitness", our ranking is roughly 15th (Wisconsin Medical Journal). I wouldn't take this list too seriously.

[TruEngineHearing]

10:53 AM on 08/08/2010

An obese person is still obese if he's in a park. Obesity is a fact based term. Your observation about other things is important, but it doesn't change the list rankings, which are based on the percentage of populations that are obese.

[Lorianne]

10:19 PM on 08/06/2010

African Americans and Latinos have higher rates of obesity.
The high obesity states have higher percentages of both groups.

Notice the leaner states are the most white (except Hawaii which has a larger percentage of Asians who are statistically lean compared to all other groups).

[Brandon McGrath]

12:46 AM on 08/07/2010

I remember reading about Bobby Kennedy going to Mississippi, along with several senators to investigate the plight of the rural poor while pushing the food stamp program in congress. they found most had barely had enough to eat... and now their eating too many calories. In ~50 years we've done a 180.

[steppenwolfsayshi]

08:43 AM on 08/08/2010

Reforming the food stamp program would be a start. It's very difficult for people to buy enough healthy food on the program and its not very flexible. The farmers market where I buy food takes food stamps. It's really cheap and they offer fresh baked bread, honey, organic cheeses and pints of spices for a $1 too, but that's the exception I know. The biggest problem I think is that people aren't familiar with cooking. I think that should be taught in school again. If you are good cook, you can make healthy food very cheaply.

[AZterritory]

09:28 PM on 08/06/2010

When I was teaching in South Africa, I had a student's mom come up to me and say "I want to live in America where even the poor people are fat."

[G52]

04:38 AM on 08/07/2010

That cheap high fructose corn syrup will get you every time!

[steppenwolfsayshi]

09:03 AM on 08/08/2010

Sometimes I think the problem is that we don't appreciate our food. I've been broke in college and even ten dollars will buy you a weeks worth of food. Sausage gumbo, bread soup, bean soup, bean and cheese burritos...very cheap, very good I always have cake ingredients too. A cake when you're hungry is the best thing ever.
My grandmother told me during the Depression, they used to eat soup and cake and vegetables from the garden. Eating too much cake sounds bad, but as long as you don't eat when you're not hungry, then you can't get into too much trouble. I avoid resturants like the plague-those are what make me fat.

[AZterritory]

01:25 PM on 08/08/2010

What a thoughtful post ;-), enjoyed reading it.

[allis1]

08:40 PM on 08/06/2010

Well if the comments on this post are any indication, these people have been ridiculed and shamed quite enough already and it doesn't seem to be very effective in getting people to
make the changes they need to make in order to be healthier. So...when 20-30% of our population in any given state in our country is now obese,maybe there is something bigger
going on here as these articles indicated. There are tons of reasons why it is so much easier to get fat now then it was 30-40 years ago, we need a nation wide campaign (we did it with tobacco) for starters. Obviously just depending on will power is not going to do it.

[AZterritory]

09:28 PM on 08/06/2010

LOL at nation wide . . . but a good comment ;-)

[sfsoma]

08:28 PM on 08/06/2010

I'm saving up my fat for the coming depression accompanied by starvation. I'll hang on a little longer.

[Striving for Excellence]

05:52 PM on 08/06/2010

To discourage overconsumption of food and the resulting health care costs to society, I propose two ideas.
First, we should provide tax credits to those with a low BMI. For a small fee (deductible on a taxpayer’s return), a doctor, nurse, or other licensed health professional could certify a person’s BMI once annually, during the three months prior to April 15th. If not certified for any reason, no tax credit (including the previous year's tax credit), could be claimed.
Second, we should also start requiring Medicare and Medicaid recipients to provide their certified BMI annually in order to receive benefits. They would pay a share of cost based on BMI. Would your elected representatives propose such legislation?

[Lorianne]

10:56 PM on 08/06/2010

There would be a lot of African American women paying more for their Medicare and Medicaid care. They are the group with the highest obesity statistically.

[Chicagowill]

03:25 PM on 08/08/2010

Good idea, but BMI is a very crude metric.

Most football players have very high BMI's but do not have much body fat.

% body fat can be determined fairly inexpensively.