by Laura Everage

The other morning, as I came down for coffee, there on my Mom’s kitchen table sat the Cleveland Plain Dealer, its headline staring me in the face, “Ohio drops in obesity ranking, without getting thinner.”

I didn’t have to read more. Since landing on the shores of Lake Erie more than a week ago, I have seen my share of overweight adults, children, and teens. I knew Ohio was overweight, and it didn’t matter to me that it dropped in ranking or not.

According to the new study Fat: How Obesity Threatens America’s Future, from the Trust for America’s Health and the Robert Woods Foundation, 29 percent of adults in the State are obese. (The State’s drop in ranking from 10 to 13 is due to the fact that other states have increased their girth). Additionally, Ohioans are ranked in the top ten when it comes to diabetes, with 9.8 percent of adults being diabetic. This, according to the article, costs more than $3.6 billion a year statewide. And by 2018, the United Health Foundation, the American Public Health Association and Partnership for Prevention predict that cost to grow to more than $16 million.

When I logged onto my computer to search for more juicy tidbits, I immediately came across the article on Yahoo, “Obesity Rates Jump in 28 States, Report Shows.”

Citing the study, the article quotes Jeff Levi, executive director of the Trust for America’s Health, as saying that the majority of states (more than two-thirds) have adult obesity rates above 20 percent. He adds, “Back in 1991, not that long ago, not a single state had an obesity rate above 20 percent. There’s been a dramatic change in a relatively short period.”