San Antonio Has Highest Rate of Obesity
By Rob Stein
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, March 3, 2003; Page A03

San Antonio has gained the unenviable position of being the community in the United States with the greatest percentage of obese adults, according to new federal statistics.

In 2001, the most recent year for which national data on obesity are available, 31.1 percent of adults in San Antonio were considered obese -- the highest rate in the nation. Gary, Ind., had the second-highest obesity rate -- 28.8 percent.

San Antonio's ranking comes as the numbers of Americans who are overweight and obese are hitting all-time highs. In 2001, 21 percent of U.S. adults were obese and 37.2 percent were overweight, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

"It's alarming," said Ali Mokdad, chief of the CDC's behavioral surveillance branch. "That's why we call it epidemic."

Public health experts have become increasingly alarmed by the number of Americans who are overweight or obese -- a number that has been rising steadily over the past decade to become one of the nation's most pervasive and pressing health problems. Being overweight or obese sharply increases the risk for a range of ills, including cancer, heart disease and diabetes. Officials hope understanding how the problem varies nationwide might help federal and local officials target their efforts.

The problem affects every part of the country, but tends to be severe in the South.

"This is something that's obviously a concern," said Fernando A. Guerra, director of the San Antonio Metropolitan Health District. "It is a major public health challenge -- one of the most important public health challenges we have."

In addition to having the highest rate of obesity, San Antonio also had a high rate of people who are overweight -- 65 percent of the city's adults were considered overweight in 2001, second only to Charleston, W.Va., where 67.8 percent of adults were overweight, according to the new numbers.

Guerra attributed the high rates of obese and overweight people to the same factors fueling the obesity epidemic nationwide -- too much junk food, too much television, not enough exercise.

In San Antonio, that is compounded by the city's increasing population of Hispanics, who tend to be more prone to weight problems for cultural, socioeconomic and possibly genetic reasons, Guerra said.

"The health status of immigrant populations coming from Mexico and countries in Central America seems to deteriorate after they arrive in this country," he said.

Part of the problem stems from San Antonio's long tradition of overindulgence, said Joan Miller, executive director of the Health Collaborative, a private, nonprofit organization that tries to promote health in the San Antonio area.

"In San Antonio, we like to have a lot of fun. We have our annual fiesta. We love our margaritas. We like to party," she said.

The city and Miller's group have begun several programs aimed at trying to counter the problem, such as efforts to improve nutrition in schools and to encourage people to exercise more.

"We've allowed it to get out of control. Now it's going to require a lot of resources to get it under control," Guerra said.

The new data come from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, an ongoing national survey of risk factors for disease compiled annually by the CDC. The CDC posted the 2001 data on its Web site last week, and calculated which five cities had the highest and lowest rates of obese and overweight people at the request of The Washington Post.

Obesity is defined as having a body mass index (BMI) of at least 30. Overweight is defined as having a BMI of 25. BMI is a formula in which a person's body weight in kilograms is divided by the square of his or her height in meters. Using American units of measurement, an adult who is 5 feet 5 inches tall and weighs 150 pounds would have a BMI of 25.

The city with the lowest obesity rate was Denver, at 14.2 percent. No one is sure why, but a common supposition is that Denver residents get more exercise than people in other cities.

The Washington metropolitan area had an obesity rate of 18.1 percent.

The city with the lowest rate of overweight people was Portland, Maine, at 49.3 percent. The Washington metropolitan area had an overweight rate of 54.4 percent.

In 1990, 11.6 percent of Americans were obese and 33.1 percent were overweight.

Dr. Christian Comment:   31.1% Obese  BMI>30,   65% Overweight  BMI 25-29.9 This means 96.1% of San Antonians over 18 are Overweight!!  The National figures are 21% Obese and 37.2% Overweight or 58.2% Total.

Link to: CDC Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System

The BRFSS, the world’s largest telephone survey, tracks health risks in the United States. Information from the survey is used to improve the health of the American people.

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