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Colorado's Low Obesity Rate Is Still Costly

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Nov 18, 2009 9:51 am US/Mountain

Colorado's Low Obesity Rate Is Still Costly

Reporting
Jodi Brooks
DENVER (CBS4) ― The obesity problem in our country is growing faster than any other public health issue.

A new study by Emory University finds 103 million American adults will be obese by 2018 if the current trends continue.

Oklahoma will be the heaviest state with more than 56 percent of the population considered obese. By 2018, Colorado is expected to be the only state with an obesity rate less than 30 percent.

Colorado might be the least obese state but, like the rest of the country, residents' waistlines are expanding. Colorado estimates its cost for obesity will be $3.235 billion in 2018.

Reversing the obesity rate comes with a cost savings.

Dr. Jim Hill, co-founder of America on the Move and the director of the Center for Human Nutrition Center in Denver, said he has an idea.

"What I would like to see is every person in Colorado say my goal is going to be to not gain weight over the next year, to weigh the same," Hill said.

At Denver's 20th Street Gym CBS4 asked exercisers about weight management. Michael James who works out at the gym said his wife has seen a big change since she began working out.

"My wife is on a pretty good clip. She and I started last January in exercise and weight loss. She's maintained her weight and lost quite a bit so, I think people can if they give it a good work," James said.

Even with all the exercisers, not a single state has had real success in turning obesity around. Since 1985 every state's obesity rate has gone up.

Ray Espinoza, who also works out at the 20th Street Gym, said he finds himself fluctuating when he stops exercising or goes off of his diet.

Finding better solutions and ways to engage people in diet and exercise is a start.

"What research now is showing is the cost of not doing anything is going to be tremendous," said Hill.

If everyone in the country simply maintained our current obesity rates, that would equate to a savings of nearly $200 billion a year in health care costs by 2018.

(© MMIX CBS Television Stations, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

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