According to Vital Signs, a new part of the CDC journal Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (more on that in a minute), the number of adults whose self-reported numbers indicated obesity rose 1.1 percent between 2007 and 2009. Nationally, 26.7 percent of adults were obese in 2009, a number that’s even higher for non-Hispanic blacks (36.8 percent), Hispanics (30.7 percent) and folks who didn’t graduate from high school (32.9 percent.) [PDF transcript of today’s briefing.]
States ranged from Mississippi (34.4 percent) to Colorado (18.6 percent) and none met the federal Healthy People 2010 obesity target of 15 percent.
Healthy People 2010 was started by the HHS in 2000 as an effort to improve public health and eliminate disparities across the country. Obesity percentages were a key benchmarks, as were tobacco use, access to health care, mental health, environmental quality and immunization.
The objectives for Healthy People 2020 are being considered now. They would keep the obesity-related goals from the 2010 effort and augment them with nutrition-based standards.
The CDC says Vital Signs, which will be published on the first Tuesday of each month, “is designed to provide the latest data and information on key health indicators – cancer prevention, obesity, tobacco use, alcohol use, access to health care, HIV/AIDS, motor vehicle passenger safety, health care-association infections, cardiovascular health, teen pregnancy, infant mortality, asthma and food safety.”