Obesity rates almost doubled in USA

Living in the South or the Midwest might be increasing your risk of weight gain. That’s where the states with the highest obesity rates — including Arkansas, West Virginia, North Dakota and Indiana — are located, according to a new report by the Robert Woods Johnson Foundation and Trust for America’s Health. 

And those aren’t just trivial numbers: when the rate of obesity in your state increases, your own personal risk may increase as well. Recent research at Harvard has shown that your social circle — the folks you interact with on a daily basis — can dramatically impact your own health and fitness. In fact, just having a close friend who becomes obese raises your own risk by 57 percent. (Having a sibling or spouse who’s obese also increases your risk, but to a lesser degree.) In other words, when the folks around you get fat, your own belly starts to expand, too.

Twenty-two states now have obesity rates that top 30 percent (it was only 15 percent about 20 years ago), according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance Survey. And while much of the country is holding steady, obesity rates are growing in five states: Ohio, Minnesota, Kansas, New Mexico and Utah. 

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