Poll: Most say they don’t have weight problem

McClatchy Newspapers

WASHINGTON — Despite government data that show a dramatic increase in obesity in the United States over the past 20 years, most Americans don’t think they have much of a weight problem, according to a new McClatchy-Ipsos poll.

The survey found that only 17 percent of those surveyed thought that obesity was a major problem for their families and themselves, while 33 percent said it was a minor problem, and 49 percent said it was no problem at all.

Two-thirds judged themselves at healthy weights, and though 30 percent acknowledged that they were overweight, only 4 percent said they were very overweight.

That’s not how the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention sees the problem. Last year, the CDC reports, only one state — Colorado — had a prevalence of obesity of less than 20 percent. Thirty- two states had prevalences of 25 percent or greater, and six of those states — Alabama, Mississippi, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee and West Virginia — had prevalences of obesity of 30 percent or more.

The latest Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System survey data show that obesity in the U.S. is getting worse, said Liping Pan, a CDC epidemiologist and the lead author of the CDC’s obesity report. “If this trend continues, we will likely see increases in health-care costs for obesity-related diseases.”

Dr. William Dietz, the director of the CDC’s Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity and Obesity, said obesity was a major risk factor for several chronic ailments such as heart disease and diabetes.