A new ranking of states with the highest obesity rates finds the south is tipping the scales.
The states that took the top five spots were mostly in the Southeast: Mississippi, West Virginia, Tennessee, Arkansas and Louisiana, according to WalletHub.
Not surprisingly, many of those same states ranked in the top five for having the highest percentage of adults with high cholesterol and inactivity.
While, Florida came in around the middle of the pack for fattest states in America, at No. 23, it did rank in third place for having the highest percentage of overweight children, the study found.
According to the Centers for Disease and Control, seven out of every 10 American adults are overweight, and almost 40 percent are obese.
The state with the leanest, low-fat ranking: Colorado.
Analysts from WalletHub compared the 50 states and the District of Columbia across 19 metrics, including the percentage of obese and overweight people, sugary-beverage consumption among adolescents and obesity-related health care costs.
>> Related: Tips on how to prevent obesity
Read the full report here.
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