A Study of 22,000 Missourians Diagnosed with Morbid Obesity in 2008

With an estimated annual price tag of $117 billion and severe health consequences, obesity is a growing problem in the U.S. and Missouri. In 1990, fewer than 15 percent of adults in the U.S. were obese. Recent research estimates that today more than 1 in 3 adults in the U.S. were obese, as signaled by a body mass index of 30 or higher. This trend signals a 133 percent relative increase in the percent of adults in the U.S. living with obesity during the last 25 years.

According to self-reported data collected by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, the rates of adult obesity are higher in the Midwest than any other region in the country. According to the survey, last year Missouri was ranked among the top 20 states for the prevalence of adults with obesity (30.2 percent).

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