LITTLE ROCK — A report by two public health groups finds more than 30 percent of adults in Arkansas are now considered obese, compared to 17 percent in 1995.
The annual report released Thursday by Trust for America's Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation ranks Arkansas as the nation's ninth-fattest state with an adult obesity rate of 30.6 percent.
Arkansas was the country's fifth-fattest state in 1995, even though its obesity rate was lower then.
Mississippi topped the list for the seventh year in a row. It has an obesity rate of 34.4 percent while Colorado has the lowest obesity rate at 19.8 percent.
The report says that in 1995, an obesity rate of 19.8 percent would have been the highest in the country.
The study is based on 2010 data.