New Report: 24 Percent of Massachusetts Residents Considered Obese

By CHARLENE ARSENAULT (Patch Staff)

Taco Bell recently announced it was changing its recipes to be healthier (including using real black pepper as opposed to “pepper flavoring), and McDonald’s cut seven menu items to streamline its choices. Supersizing ended years ago. Other fast food conglomerates are making moves to answer the cry for a healthier country, such as offering better choices and posting more transparent labels.

It’s not necessarily making a difference, yet.

A recent report conducted by Gallup and Healthways, which began tracking obesity rates in 2008, showed that the national obesity rate continued to rise in 2014 to 27.7 percent, which is up from 27.1 percent in 2013 and 25.5 percent in 2008.

According to the report, residents in Hawaii were the least likely to be obese, and Mississippi had the highest rate in the country, at 35.2 percent. Mississippi and West Virginia have held the two highest obesity rates since 2012.

Massachusetts is fifth in the lowest rates in the country, with 24 percent of residents considered obese. With Hawaii at number one, Colorado, Montana and California are close behind.

The data was based on the respondents’ self-reported height and weight, and Americans who have a body mass index of 30 or higher are considered obese.

Gallup revealed in its report that rates continue to be highest in southern and midwestern states, and they are lowest in the northeast and west. It also found that there is a strong link between obesity and Americans’ sense of well-being.

Overall, Gallup found more than a third of the population to be obese in a “handful of states.”

“The strong relationship between obesity and overall well-being suggests that interventions geared toward encouraging exercise and healthy eating, while important, may not be enough to reverse the upward trend in obesity, “ said the report. “Gallup has found that Americans’ desire to lose weight is not matched by their efforts.

Read the full report, including survey methods, here.

Photo credit: Gallup