Unfortunately, the efforts to curb the raging obesity pandemic have mostly failed. Our citizens are ruining their health by becoming obese at an alarming rate, as adult obesity rates went up in 37 states and there was no state in which the figures diminished.

The fifth annual "F as in Fat: How Obesity Policies Are Failing in America, 2008" report from the Trust for America's Health (TFAH) and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) reveals that in 28 states, at least 1 in 4 adults is obese, whereas in 1991 there was no U.S. state in which at least 1 in 5 adults was obese. Last year's report found that more than 30 percent of Mississippi adults were obese, and now Alabama and West Virginia also have adult obesity rates over 30 percent.

Alabama, Tennessee, Louisiana and West Virginia have always topped the list for obesity percentage, but Mississippi has had the highest obesity rate ever since 2004. Yet, the differences between the four states and Mississippi are only slightly observable. It seems that poverty, eating habits and demographic groups in the Southern part have influenced the obesity rate. This is mainly caused by the high prices that healthy food has, which make poor people turn to junk food.

Senior author of the report is Jeffrey Levi, PhD, executive director of Trust for America's Health and associate professor of health policy at George Washington University School of Public Health, said at a news conference presenting the report that we are not treating the obesity epidemic with the seriousness it deserves.