More than half of Utah adults are overweight or obese (57%) and an estimated 22.5% of elementary school students were overweight or at risk of becoming overweight.
The number of those overweight or obese in Utah is greater than the entire population of Montana. You could simultaneously fill Rice Eccles Stadium, the E-Center, and Energy Solutions Arena almost 13 times with the number of overweight or obese Utah adults. See the Data page for more details.
Chances are, you know someone who is at an unhealthy weight. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) defines obesity as a Body Mass Index (BMI) of 30 or above. Overweight is defined as a BMI of greater than 25 and less than 29.9. Calculate BMI. If you are looking for personal weight loss, nutrition, and/or physical activity information, please visit the Check Your Health Web site.
Learn how your environment is contributing to the problem and what risk factors to watch for. See how costly it can be to treat obesity-related health problems.
All Utahns must unite to make the healthy choice the easy choice where we live, learn, work, and play. The Next Steps page outlines what Governor Jon Huntsman, Jr. and the Utah Department of Health are doing to combat this epidemic in Utah. Visit the Successes page to see what is working.
Current Local and National Obesity Breaking News
- 8/11/08 - Breastfeeding rates in Utah have achieved the Healthy People 2010 Objectives, according to the Centers for Disease Control. More >>>
- 8/6/08 - 93 percent of children's meal choices at 13 fast food chains exceeded 430 calories. More >>>
- 7/28/08 - Infants born to women who were obese had odds of infant death 23% higher than the odds for the reference group of infants born to women with normal BMIs. More >>>
- 7/21/08 - By age 15 years, adolescents were only engaging in moderate or vigorous physical activity for 49 minutes per weekday and 35 minutes per weekend day. More >>>
