Fried chicken, fried okra and other fried cliches of US southern
cuisine may be making their mark: a new study Tuesday shows that rates
of obesity are highest in the US south.

Just about one of every three adults in Mississippi, Louisiana, West
Virginia and Alabama is considered obese, based on a calculation of
their weight and height, according to the analysis by non-profits
Trust for America’s Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation,
using government figures.

***In all, 12 states were found to have adult obesity rates in excess
of 30 percent, all in the southern and the midwestern regions of the
county.***

The leanest states tended to be in the northeast and the southwest —
with outdoorsy mountain-state Colorado coming lowest on the obesity
ranking.