Alabama second in obesity

By Katie Stallcup

Published: July 17, 2008

Alabama ranks second nationwide for obesity in a new survey, and local health experts say the reasons are complex.

Mississippi topped the list with 32.0 percent of adult residents considered obese, but Alabama was close behind with 30.3 percent. Tennessee was third at 30.1 percent.

Alabama’s lifestyle, education and economics play into the state’s obesity rate, said Kajuandra Harris Huntley, Alabama Extension System foods and nutrition specialist.

“In the South, we’re accustomed to foods that have a lot of calories, that are high-fat, high-sugar foods,” Huntley said. “That’s part of our culture. But over the years, the type of work we do changed. Instead of labor-intensive work, it’s now more mechanized. We don’t have the opportunity to burn as many calories, and as a result, we gain weight.”

Education about nutrition and access to health tools via the Internet are scarcer in rural areas of the state, which also contribute to obesity, she said.

Black and rural demographics tend to correlate more with obesity, Dr. Doug White, head of the nutrition and food science department at Auburn, said.

The top eight states were in the South. The results were very close to the three previous years.

“But it’s not just in the South,” White said. “Two-thirds of the American adult population is either overweight or obese. There are complicated reasons for that. We have abundant and fairly low-cost food right now … and we’re becoming more sedentary … It’s really a nationwide, and becoming a worldwide, problem.”

Huntley said her organization tried to help people modify their behaviors to improve their health.

“I encourage people to make those changes slowly, based on what affects them, not on what society may say needs to be done,” she said. “It may be as simple as increasing water consumption or only eating out at a fast food restaurant once a week or every other week. I think smaller steps are essential.“

For more information on healthy steps, visit the extension service’s Web site at http://www.aces.edu and click on the link for food and health.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.