D.C. residents are among the nation’s least fat adults, but the rate of childhood obesity in the District ranks in the top 10 nationally, according to a new 15-year study. The “F as in Fat” report, released by the Trust for America’s Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, looked at obesity in D.C. and all 50 states. The District’s adult obesity rate was 21.7 percent — which placed it one spot away from the study’s lowest ranking. But D.C. ranked ninth in childhood obesity at 20.1 percent.
Maryland and Virginia came in at the middle of the pack, ranked 26th and 30th in adult obesity.
| ‘F as in Fat’ |
| Ranking State % of obese adult residents |
| 1 Mississippi 34.4 |
| 2 Alabama 32.3 |
| 3 W. Virginia32.2 |
| 26. Maryland 27.1 |
| 30. Virginia 25.9 |
| 49. Connecticut 21.8 |
| 50. D.C. 21.7 |
| 51. Colorado 19.8 |
| Source: Trust for America’s Health |
Dr. Scott Kahan, a physician with the George Washington University School of Public Health who peer-reviewed the national report, said citywide programming and exposure to national initiatives like first lady Michelle Obama’s “Let’s Move!” campaign help keep D.C. adults fitter than those in other areas of the country.
But “the big picture is that D.C. has quite high rates of obesity, both in adults and in children,” Kahan said. “Everybody essentially is gaining weight and it’s getting worse over time.”
The report’s authors said their findings were grim. In 1995, when the study began, no state had an adult obesity rate above 20 percent. Now, every state but Colorado does.
D.C.’s obesity rate went from 12.8 percent to 21.7 percent between 1995 and 2010, the smallest percentage-point increase in the country.
The D.C. Department of Heath issued its first obesity report last year, finding that 55 percent of D.C. residents are obese or overweight. The health department laid out a five-year weight management program for the city.
D.C. joins only a few states that have a plan to combat obesity, said Autumn Saxon-Rose of the health department. A two-year grant from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention will allow the city to expand its efforts.
