Obesity and Cancer: The States with the Highest Levels of Obesity

One of the newest findings in cancer-related studies is that obesity can have a significant impact on cancer risk. Among other findings, a study done by the American Institute for Cancer Research (AICR) revealed that in the weight category known as very, very obese (body mass index higher than 40), uterine cancer death rates were 525 percent higher than in women of healthy weight (body mass index between 18.5 and 24.9). Interestingly, the state where you live may leave you more likely to become obese and ultimately at higher risk for cancer.

In an analysis of the United States for 2010 by CalorieLab, Inc., the percentage of each state's adult population that is obese is used to make a ranking system. An average of those percentages over three years, from 2007 to 2009, was used to compile an accurate ranking system. Some of the the key points of the analysis are:

• The state with the highest percentage of obese adults was Mississippi, at 33.8 percent
  
• The ‘thinnest' state in the U.S. was Colorado, with only 19.1 percent being obese
• The state of Georgia ranks 17th in the country, with an obesity rate of 28.1
• A total of 40 states have an adult obesity rate of 25 percent or higher

 

That last statistic means that in 80 percent of the country's states, a quarter of the population is obese. According to the AICR study, being overweight may affect more than 100,000 cancer cases in America. Some of the cancers that have been linked to being obese are colon, breast, endometrial, kidney and esophageal cancers.

Obesity was already one of the most pressing health problems facing our nation, and with the added association to increased cancer risk, it has become even more troubling.