Four states trimmed their obesity rates, but two saw gains and the rest remained stable, according to a new report.
The states that reduced their obesity rate from 2014 to 2015 were Minnesota, Montana, New York and Ohio, according to a report released Thursday by the Trust for America’s Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. It is the first time in the past decade that any state saw a drop, save for one in the District of Columbia in 2010.
Ohio’s adult obesity rate dropped the most of the four states, from 32 percent in 2014 to 26 percent last year. Other states experienced smaller decline, with Minnesota declining only 1 percentage point and New York declining 2 percentage points from 27 percent to 25 percent. Montana declined 3 points from 26 percent to 23 percent, the report said.
While those states saw drops, they rose in Kansas and Kentucky by 3 percentage points each, both to 34 percent.
Colorado had the lowest obesity rate in 2015 with 20 percent, while Louisiana had the highest with 36 percent, the report said.
Louisiana had some company as nine out of 11 states with the highest obesity rates were in the South.
Alabama, Mississippi and West Virginia tied for the second-highest obesity rate, with about 35 percent.
Overall, a Gallup survey found the U.S. obesity rate was 28 percent last year.
Advocates were pleased with the declines in four states but weren’t totally satisfied.
“All the rates remain very high,” Richard Hamburg, interim president and CEO of Trust for America’s Health, said on a call with reporters.
The report offers a slew of policy recommendations to reduce rates further, including targeting childhood obesity early through additional funding.
The data was based on an analysis of state data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
