| West Virginia has become the state with the highest number of overweight residents in USA, obesity being link with statistics that show the state having citizens with the lowest incomes.
Previously the state has been among the top three with obesity.
Obesity is connected to a number of critical health problems, from diabetes to heart problems.
According to the 2012 Gallup-Healthways Well-being Index just released, 33.5 percent of West Virginia's population is considered obese, worse than Mississippi.
The availability of quick fix fast and junk food, including sugar laden beverages, coupled with the lack of exercise, is part of the problem.
Nutritionists give a number of reasons why people eat and drink products that have huge amount of calories, but some say that citizens in rural, poor counties equate the need for food with security.
Their parents or grandparents suffered through the Great Depression. A symbolic line about hunger comes from "Gone with the Wind," where Scarlett O'Hara says, "I'll never go hungry again."
Gallup-Healthways have been tracking Americans' weight since 2008.
Colorado was rated the healthiest state with an obesity rate of 18.7 percent.
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