Even though Colorado’s population swelled in the last year, the state’s waistlines didn’t.
Colorado remained the leanest state in the nation in 2015, according to by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The state has now held that title .
Colorado also has the lowest rate of adult diabetes, the lowest rate of physical inactivity and the second-lowest rate of hypertension, by the Trust for America’s Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
But health officials warn that the state is not as healthy as it could be. Though obesity rates in Colorado have held steady for the past five years, one out of every five Coloradans is currently considered obese — a huge increase from 1990 when about one out of every 15 Coloradans, or fewer than 7 percent, were obese. Obesity rates are higher among African-Americans and Latinos, and live in households with limited access to nutritious food.
“Our efforts seem to be contributing to a growing awareness across Colorado of the health costs of obesity and the benefits of a healthy lifestyle,” Joan Brucha, the manager of the Colorado Health Department’s Healthy Eating Active Living Unit, on the new numbers. “But we can see there’s clearly more work to be done to make Colorado the healthiest state in the nation.”
The Health Department has programs to encourage healthy eating among kids and to work with the food industry to make more nutritious offerings for sale. It also offers grants for community organizations fighting health disparities in low-income and racially diverse neighborhoods.
The CDC based on , a measurement of weight as compared to height. In 2015, the heaviest state in the nation was Louisiana, where more than 36 percent of adults were considered obese. Nine states had obesity rates higher than one out of every three adults.
