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ATLANTA - Mississippi, Alabama and Tennessee lead the nation when it comes to obesity, a new government survey reported Thursday.

More than 30 percent of adults in each of the states tipped the scales enough to ensure the South remains the nation's fattest region.

"We're the epicenter of the obesity epidemic," said Dr. Mary Currier, Mississippi state epidemiologist.

The Daily Journal is in the middle of a three-week-long series of stories on obesity in Mississippi, examining the problem and possible solutions in a state that is the least healthiest in the nation.

Colorado was rated the least obese, with about 19 percent fitting that category in a random telephone survey last year by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The 2007 findings are similar to results from the three previous years. Mississippi has had the highest obesity rate every year since 2004. But Alabama, Tennessee, West Virginia and Louisiana have also clustered near the top of the list, often so close that the difference between their rates and Mississippi's may not be statistically significant.

"All kinds of issues go into obesity," Currier said, such as genetics, a fried food culture and economics.

The South also has a large concentration of rural residents and black women - two groups that tend to have higher obesity rates, said Dr. William Dietz, who heads CDC's nutrition, physical activity and obesity division.

But that doesn't mean that Mississippi has to resign itself to being unhealthy.

"There's some evidence that the upward trend is slowing," Currier said. "I really think we can turn this tide ... but it's going to take everybody working on it."

Some of that work will take place in public schools, where this fall new physical and health education requirements will take effect.

"It's a great start, but it's only a start," said Tupelo family physician Dr. Ed Hill, who has advocated for comprehensive children's health education as an American Medical Association leader. "It should be on an equal basis with all academics."

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