Study puts Arkansas third in the nation for overweight and obesity

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – A recent study places Arkansas with a high ranking as the most overweight and obese state.

A study by the consumer finance site WalletHub showed that Arkansas ranked third, just behind first-place West Virginia and second-place Mississippi, for its percentage of overweight and obese individuals. The ranking came from a combined score using overweight and obesity prevalence, health consequences and food & fitness rank.

Interestingly, Arkansas ranked near the bottom for just overweight individuals, where the body mass index is between 25 and 29.9, with a tie for 49th with Mississippi, but was second in the country behind West Virginia for the number of obese adults, those with a BMI of 30 or better.

Arkansas also ranked fifth in the country for its number of obese children. For physical inactivity, the state ranked second, again behind Mississippi.

Other indicators included Arkansas ranking fifth in the percentage of adults with Type 2 diabetes and fifth in the percentage of adults with high blood pressure.

The study’s authors said the high rate of overweight and obese Arkansans is due in large part to poor diets. The study disclosed that the state has the 18th-highest share of adults who eat less than one serving of vegetables per day, and the seventh-highest for fruit. In addition, they said, Arkansas has the fourth-highest consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages among adolescents and the 10th-lowest share of the population living within a walkable distance from a healthy food retailer.

To top things off, the study’s authors said, the Arkansas obesity epidemic has led to some of the highest rates of hypertension and strokes in the nation, as well as very high rates of heart disease and heart attacks.

The National Institute of Health provides an online resource to calculate BMI.