<html><head><style type="text/css"><!-- DIV {margin:0px;} --></style></head><body><div style="font-family:times new roman,new york,times,serif;font-size:12pt;color:#000000;"><h1><font size="3">Note in particular what I've highlighted in red. This obviously speaks to our community gardens and to the Farm-to-Schools program we're looking at with Crown Point.</font><br></h1><h1>Mississippi's still fattest but Alabama closing in</h1>
<div class="byline">
<cite class="vcard">
By LAURAN NEERGAARD, AP Medical Writer <span class="fn org">Lauran Neergaard, Ap Medical Writer</span>
</cite>
<abbr title="2009-07-01T04:37:15-0700" class="recenttimedate">2 hrs 38 mins ago</abbr> </div><!-- end .byline -->
<p><br></p><p>WASHINGTON
– Mississippi's still king of cellulite, but an ominous tide is rolling
toward the Medicare doctors in neighboring Alabama: <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1246451575_0">obese baby boomers</span>.</p>
<p>It's
time for the nation's annual obesity rankings and, outside of fairly
lean Colorado, there's little good news. Obesity rates among adults
rose in 23 states over the past year and didn't decline anywhere, says
a new report from the <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1246451575_1">Trust for America's Health</span> and the <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1246451575_2">Robert Wood Johnson Foundation</span>.</p>
<p>And
while the nation has long been bracing for a surge in Medicare as the
boomers start turning 65, the new report makes clear that fat, not just
age, will fuel much of those bills. In every state, the rate of obesity
is higher among 55- to 64-year-olds — the oldest boomers — than among
today's 65-and-beyond.</p>
<p>That translates into a coming jump of obese Medicare patients that ranges from 5.2 percent in <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1246451575_3">New York</span> to a high of 16.3 percent in Alabama, the report concluded. In Alabama, nearly 39 percent of the oldest boomers are obese.</p>
<p>Health
economists once made the harsh financial calculation that the obese
would save money by dying sooner, notes Jeff Levi, executive director
of the Trust, a nonprofit <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1246451575_4">public health group</span>.
But more recent research instead suggests they live nearly as long but
are much sicker for longer, requiring such costly interventions as <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1246451575_5">knee replacements</span>
and diabetes care and dialysis. Studies show Medicare spends anywhere
from $1,400 to $6,000 more annually on health care for an obese senior
than for the non-obese.</p>
<p style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">"There isn't a magic bullet. We don't have a pill for it," said Levi, whose group is pushing for <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1246451575_6">health reform legislation</span>
to include <span style="text-decoration: underline;">community-level programs that help people make healthier
choices</span> — like building sidewalks so people can walk their
neighborhoods instead of drive, and <span style="text-decoration: underline;">providing healthier school lunches</span>.</p>
<p style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0); text-decoration: underline;">"It's not going to be solved in the doctor's office but in the community, where we change norms," Levi said.</p>
<p>The <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1246451575_7">Centers for Disease Control and Prevention</span>
has long said that nearly a third of Americans are obese. The Trust
report uses somewhat more conservative CDC surveys for a closer
state-by-state look. Among the findings:</p>
<p>_<span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1246451575_8">Mississippi</span> had the highest rate of adult obesity, 32.5 percent, for the fifth year in a row.</p>
<p>_Three
additional states now have adult obesity rates above 30 percent,
including Alabama, 31.2 percent; West Virginia, 31.1 percent; and
Tennessee, 30.2 percent.</p>
<p>_Colorado had
the lowest rate of obese adults, at 18.9 percent, followed by
Massachusetts, 21.2 percent; and Connecticut, 21.3 percent.</p>
<p>_Mississippi also had the highest rate of overweight and <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1246451575_9">obese children</span>, at 44.4 percent. It's followed by Arkansas, 37.5 percent; and Georgia, 37.3 percent.</p>
<p>_Following Alabama, <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1246451575_10">Michigan</span> ranks No. 2 with the most obese 55- to 64-year-olds, 36 percent. Colorado has the lowest rate, 21.8 percent.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>On the Net:</p>
<p><span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1246451575_11">Trust for America's Health</span>: <a href="http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/ap/ap_on_he_me/storytext/us_med_obesity_rankings/32557237/SIG=10u2ib4vv;_ylt=AlWfA_ubEP6h5051ljfbxweW_aF4;_ylu=X3oDMTFodW5xNWpiBHBvcwM0BHNlYwN5bl9zdG9yeV9wcmludF9jb250ZW50BHNsawNodHRwaGVhbHRoeWE-/*http://healthyamericans.org/"><span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1246451575_12">http://healthyamericans.org/</span></a></p>
<p><span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1246451575_13">Robert Wood Johnson Foundation</span>: <a href="http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/ap/ap_on_he_me/storytext/us_med_obesity_rankings/32557237/SIG=10m1d1k6m;_ylt=AnZqgqwZn6wXPF81CzwdnGCW_aF4;_ylu=X3oDMTFoOTRzOTdlBHBvcwM1BHNlYwN5bl9zdG9yeV9wcmludF9jb250ZW50BHNsawNodHRwd3d3cndqZm8-/*http://www.rwjf.org/"><span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1246451575_14">http://www.rwjf.org/</span></a></p></div><br>
</body></html>