October 19, 2010
Blog Post 2
Obesity is measure by a person's body mass index, or their BMI. BMI can be measured by using a person's height and weight, and it is acknowledged that a person is obese if their BMI exceeds 30. Now, to determine one's BMI, you would divide an individual's weight in kilograms by the square of their height in meters.
WHITE: no Data. LIGHT BLUE:<10%. BLUE:10%-14%. DARK BLUE:15%-19%. CREAM:20%-24%. ORANGE:25%-29%. RED: >30%
Unlike other health risks, such as smoking or drinking, obesity is a disease that has escalated only recently, namely the past 25 years. The maps that are displayed above show the prevalence of obesity in each of the 50 states in the years 1990, 1999, and 2009. They are representative of a 5'4 person with the BMI of 30 being 30 pounds overweight. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have conducted research to track the increasing population our obese citizens.
The first map, mostly white and light blue, represents our country in 1990, and that the prevalence of obesity was basically nonexistent, with the heaviest states peaking at only 14% BMI. In the middle map, 1999, we start to see a more noticeable increase in BMIs as the cream color is added to the key reaching 20%-24%. At present day, however, we see the largest increase in our nations obesity population topping the 30th percentile heavily gathered in the southern states.
The following map, with numbers reported by CalorieLab, indicates Colorado as the leanest state with an average BMI of 19.1 in 2010, while Mississippi tops the list as the fattest state with an average of a 33.8 BMI. Similar to CDC's map of the country, the southern states continue to be densely obese with most states over a 30 BMI, thus beyond overweight to obese.
References:
CalorieLab Health Website: http://calorielab.com/news/2010/06/28/fattest-states-2010/
Center for Disease Control and Prevention website: http://www.cdc.gov/obesity/data/index.html
