Americans piling on the pounds as obesity rates rise in 31 states

Despite well-publicized reports that obesity shortens lives, American adults are still piling on the pounds. In Utah and 30 other states last year, obesity rates climbed.

So says the 2007 "F as in Fat: How Obesity Policies Are Failing in America" report released Monday by the Trust for America's Health, which said no state lost weight. It also said nearly one in four American adults is physically inactive.

Utah fares well in the report, by rank, but "the current rates in even the best states are unacceptable," said Dr. James Marks, senior vice president of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, which helped fund the report.

Utahns should be concerned. Since 1989, the state's obesity rate has more than doubled, said Lynda Blades of the state health department's Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention Program. That has led to "health implications, an increased chance of other complications or diseases related to it, like heart disease and stroke, depression, disability, arthritis, diabetes — not to mention lowered quality of life and energy levels," she said.

The report says Utah adults are No. 44 in obesity (21.1 percent, compared with 20.8 percent last year), the most seriously overweight category, which includes anyone with a Body Mass Index of 30 or higher. "Overweight" includes anyone with a BMI of 25 to 29.9. The report says 55.8 percent of Utah adults are either overweight or obese.

The report also looks at weight trends for youths, using data collected by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Relatively good rankings don't change what Steve Lindsay has seen in nearly 40 years as an educator. The principal of Bountiful Junior High said his school implemented healthy-choice changes because the idea that the current crop of children may be the first generation to live sicker and die younger than their parents is appalling. Soda and candy have been banished, even from vending machines. After-school clubs have to skip the punch and doughnuts in favor of healthier snacks.

"We're not going to make it easy for them if they want to continue to eat those (unhealthy) foods," said Lindsay, who the Utah Office of Education honored with its Healthy Lifestyles Principal of the Year award.

"My children are not as active as I was as a child. My grandchildren are even less active," he said.

He blames too much TV, too many video games and too little outdoor playtime for children.