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This story originally appeared in the Jackson Free Press. It was added to the Mississippi Free Press website in 2025.
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— Nearly 35 percent of Mississippi adults are obese. That’s good enough to once again secure the top spot for the nation’s heaviest state.

The Trust for America’s Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation analyzed data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that placed Mississippi among one of 12 states with adult obesity rates over 30 percent.

Of the 30 states with the highest rates of obesity, 26 are located in the South and Midwest, the report said.

Colorado had the nation’s lowest rate at 20.7 percent of adults.