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West Virginia comes in last or very near the bottom in all kinds of significant categories. It's been that way for so long, it's almost a running joke. And when the state is at the top of a list, it's usually for something like leading the nation in overdose deaths. Now, research from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows the state is leading in another category: Obesity.
The CDC says obesity is increasing across the country. All U.S. states and territories have obesity rates higher than 20 percent. But in the Mountain State, an astounding 41.2 percent of adults are obese.
According to Dr. Alyson Goodman, the CDC's team leader on population health, there are 23 states with adult obesity rates higher than 33 percent; but before 2013, there was no state that had rates that high.
"Seeing increases in severe obesity is even more alarming because that's the level of obesity that's most highly associated with some of the highest levels of cardiovascular disease and diabetes and lower quality of life," Solveig Cunningham, an Emory University global health professor who specializes in obesity, told The Associated Press.
The numbers across the region are not a lot better. In Ohio, for instance, the rate is 36.4 percent. There is no data available from Pennsylvania, according to the CDC.
West Virginia is among only three states -- Arkansas and Mississippi are the others -- to have a rate higher than 40 percent. Ohio is among 20 states, Guam and Puerto Rico that have a rate between 35 percent and 40 percent.
While experts acknowledge the importance of new medical understanding of obesity, and new weight-loss drugs, the problem can be tackled earlier. Cunningham says the key is focusing on preventing childhood obesity first, while preventing even those who are already obese from gaining more weight.
"It's really hard to get obesity to reverse at the individual level and at the population level," Cunningham said. "I guess it's not surprising that we're not seeing downward shifts in the prevalence of obesity."
In West Virginia, early childhood education efforts -- focusing on healthy eating habits (and healthy relationships with food), and physical activity -- are essential. But they mean nothing if children and adults don't have access to affordable healthy food options. They mean little if we don't shift our thinking about exercise to understand it doesn't have to mean expensive gym memberships or lots of equipment.
Free outdoor options are available everywhere across our region. They can range from a routine walk around the neighborhood or out the road and back to a visit to the nearest state park for a more strenuous (and beautiful) hike, bicycle trip or other adventure.
As policymakers work toward expanding and diversifying economies in ways that lift all residents and developing a plan for better access to affordable healthy foods, individuals can get moving, too.
This isn't a someone-else problem. If 41.2 percent of West Virginians and 36.4 percent of Ohioans are affected and the numbers are only rising, this is a matter on which the goal for everyone should be to fall off the leaderboard.