The rankings are out. And it’s gotten worse since last year.
According to the lastest report on obesity from the Robert Woods Johnson Foundation, Illinois has the 26th highest rate of obesity.
The study breaks heaviness into two categories: obese (body mass index over 30) and overweight (body mass index between 25 and 29.9). Combined, these two categories described 63.6 percent of Illinois adults in 2009.
The fact that Illinois’ adult obesity rate rose 0.8 percentage points in a single year alarmed Elissa Bassler, CEO of the Illinois Public Health Institute.
“We tend to think of obesity and chronic disease as something where the trends move pretty slowly, but this is fast and it underscores the real need to attend to this issue both for kids and adults,” Bassler said.
Most interesting was a note on childhood obesity. Illinois ranks 4th in the nation for childhood obesity.
Another new finding in the report, based on a recent survey, found that 84 percent of parents believe their children are at a healthy weight, although nearly a third of all American children and teens are obese or overweight.
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