Obesity Maps

These are from the CDC and look at the US, county-by-county comparing diabetes and obesity. Clearly there are some regional factors that have to be considered. You can also see how closely obesity and diabetes track one another: "Both methods highlight geographic patterns of high prevalence of diabetes or obesity in specific areas of the South, Appalachia, Mississippi Delta, and western tribal lands."

The key thing is our next step. Different groups are focusing their efforts in different places. But what seems to matter is that they focus:

"The growing obesity and diabetes burden in the United States has generated interest in population-targeted prevention measures, ranging from health-system support for preventive lifestyle interventions to increased legislation of the food environment, to enhanced social marketing to reduce risk factors for obesity and diabetes (7,8). Improved surveillance systems will be crucial to target interventions toward areas with populations at high risk and track the impact of those interventions at the local level."

This is just the sort of news that you need to have come out right before Thanksgiving. You suddenly might want to change from a regional dish to something healthier. Or you might just be thankful you live in a healthy state like Colorado.