MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

A quarter of US adult population obese

In ten states of the Union, 25% of the adult population is described as obese, according to a report from the non government organization, Trust for America's Health, which claims the President George Bush is doing very little to revert the epidemics situation.

With the exception of Oregon, obese rate accelerated in all states during 2004 alleges the independent report.

It is estimated that currently 64,5% of the US adult population, equivalent to 119 million people, is obese or overweight.

"An obese situation is the access door to coronary diseases, diabetes and many other ills", said Parris N. Glendening former governor of Maryland and president of the Smart Growth Leadership Institute, an institution that helped with the drafting of the report.

"We've reached a condition of political paralysis concerning overweight and obesity", said Shelley A. Hearne, director of Trust for America's Health. "In the United States we have in our hands a crisis of poor nutrition and physical inactivity, and it's time to begin dealing with it".

According to the report the program with which the Bush administration is trying to block the advance of the obesity epidemics lacks significant effects.

Besides, schools give physical activity a very distant second place in pedagogic programs, "which is where the emphasis should be greater".

"There's still much information to be distributed, much to be accomplished before common citizens can begin making healthy and rational decisions regarding nutrition and physical activity", added Mr. Glendening.

Mississippi, famous for its calorific mud pie, ranked as the sate with most adult obese, followed by Alabama and West Virginia.

According to projections, 73% of US adults could be overweight or obese by 2008, warned Trust for America's Health. In turn, this would mean many more people with obesity-related illnesses such as diabetes and heart disease, which could cost the nation billions of dollars.

Oregon in the north-west was the only one not to see an increase between 2003 and 2004, maintaining a steady adult obesity rate of 21%. The US Department of Health and Human Services set a national goal of reducing obesity in adults to 15% or less of the population by 2010.

The percentage of obese adults per state in 2004 according to the US Centre for Disease Control and Prevention ranks Mississippi first with 29,5%, followed by Alabama, 28,9% and West Virginia 27,6%. At the other end of the list is Colorado with 16,4%.