Written by Stuart Stevens | Wednesday, 09 May 2007 | There are 2 comments
The place is not unknown for its considerable eating prowess...
So who is the most obese of the obese? The majority of people are aware that America is the country that has the most overweight and obese worldwide and that the situation is not likely to go away quickly. Not many people know that Huntington which is located in West Virginia is the city where you will find the biggest number of obese people in the all of the United States of America.
The place is not unknown for its considerable eating prowess and hot dogs that are deep fried as well as fried bologna sandwiches are a feature on many of the restaurant menus in the area. The statistics that give Huntington the prize for being the most overweight place in America come from a study that was undertaken by the National Centre for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion in 2005. The study looked at BMI statistics all over America and categorised West Virginia in third place as the most obese American state.
Overall just over 34 percent of the adult population of Huntington has a BMI of 30 or above and 32.5 percent on top of this have a BMI of between 25 and 29.9 categorising them as overweight. Huntington which is close to the border of West Virginia is not the capital of the state but just one of the smaller cities. Charleston which is the capital of West Virginia ranked in the top ten of the most obese American cities coming in at fourth place with an obesity figure of 31.5 percent.
San Antonio in Texas was another top ten city in the obesity stakes as well as the city of New Orleans of Louisiana and the city of Memphis in Tennessee showing that the southern states seem to be taking many of the prizes. The second most obese country in the world is Mexico which borders the United States of America.
There are 2 comments on this article.
Jon said:
This article may be the worst written and least researched piece of work I have ever read. I am a lifelong Huntingtonian (with a BMI of 22) who has seen a major improvement in the health of my home town over the last 10 years. Your article has an inherent biased towards the stereotypes of appalachia. We do have a large number of hot dogs stands and pizza places, but we have an equally large number of healthy living events and oppurtunities for our citizens. Also, the author of this article obviously didn't take the time to do his research or he would have know that Huntington isn't "just one of the smaller cities [in WV]" we are the second largest city in WV. I agree that our nation and even our world is becoming more obese everyday, but to make a claim that Huntington is the most obese city in the nation is out of line. We may have a high rate of chronic disease but that correlation is weak towards "most obese". Think about what you write and actually visit the city claim to be the most obese, we would love to go for a run with you!
Stuart Stevens said:
Apologies if this article offended you. The claim that Huntington is the most obese city was made by the National Centre for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion and repeated by us as well as by your local paper The Herald Dispatch. Maybe you should contact them? Thanks for setting the record straight regarding the size of Huntington. Stuart.
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