One-third of Kansas adults obese in study

Kansas is the 13th-fattest state in the country with more than a third of adult residents designated as obese, according to the new State of Obesity report released Monday.

The adult obesity rate in 45 states did not change last year. The obesity rate in Kansas did – from 30 percent in 2013 to 31.3 percent in 2014.

“This is a significant percent of the population,” said Jeff Willett, vice president for programs and policy at the Kansas Health Foundation.

“And we didn’t get to this point overnight. It took many years, and it’s going take time to turn this around.”

Kansas ranked as the19th-fattest state in the country in 2013.

Even though the Kansas Health Foundation and other organizations work to combat these issues, Willett said, the need remains high. He pointed to rural grocery store closures and childhood food insecurity as continued obstacles, both of which can lead to less access to healthy food.

“We’re evidently not doing enough to counter those things in our society that are making it difficult for them to be active and healthy,” he said.

Larger picture

The Kansas obesity rate has risen every year since the government started collecting data in 1995. Back then, the state’s obesity rate sat at 13.5 percent.

In Kansas, men have a slightly higher obesity rate than women; black people have a higher obesity rate than Latinos and white people; and middle-age residents lead the obesity chart compared to other Kansas age groups.

Sara Belfry, communications director for the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, said the state plans to continue its current programs to combat obesity.

The programs include increased access to local healthy food through farmers markets and expanded access to bike and pedestrian transportation, in addition to establishing worksite health programs and supporting physical activities, healthy meals and snacks in schools.

“We have evidence-based programs that have been proven to help reduce the rate in Kansas,” she said.

When told the rate had risen every year, without exception, since the government started collecting the data in 1995, she said the programs have proven effective in other states.

The study also found that 10.3 percent of adults in Kansas have diabetes. At the current rate, more than 713,000 Kansans would have hypertension by 2030 and more than 367,000 would have diabetes by 2030, according to projections made in the study.

Kansas ranks 46th in the nation for public health dollars per capita, according to another 2015 report by Trust for America’s Health, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization.

“The state could invest more in public health and prevention,” Willett said.

Nationwide

The 2014 survey found that in 22 states, including Kansas, 30 percent or more of the population was obese. Those states were mostly in the South and Midwest.

Arkansas topped the list for the highest obesity rate in the nation, and Colorado showed the lowest rate in the country.

The study defined obesity as based on a person’s weight in relation to their height through the body mass index. Obesity is defined as an excessively high amount of body fat in relation to lean body mass; overweight refers to increased body weight in relation to height.

The State of Obesity is a collaborative project between Trust for America’s Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

The obesity rates come from the largest telephone health survey in the country, according to the report’s website.

This story was originally published September 21, 2015 at 8:57 PM with the headline "One-third of Kansas adults obese in study."