In case you missed it (as we did), Oklahoma has achieved another dubious distinction. The Sooner state ranks eighth in the percentage of citizens who are obese.
The findings, released last week by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, revealed that 28.8 percent of the state's population are obese. Our western neighbor, Colorado, has the nation's lowest obesity rate at 19.3 percent.
Oklahoma isn't alone. The CDC figures show that the entire nation has become fatter over the past two decades. Most of them are in the South, where we (yes, AT too) eat lots of fried food and sweet stuff. More fried chicken and sweet tea, anyone?
The Tulsa World noted last week that Oklahoma's obesity rate was less that 10 percent in 1988.
This is not a simple matter of the food police at work, either, since obesity has public health consequences. As the World reported, public health officials link obesity with the increased risk of Type 2 diabetes, hypertension, kidney disease, and other serious conditions.
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