KYW Newsradio’s Medical Reports are sponsored by Independence Blue Cross.
A report from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation has found that the five states with the highest youth obesity rates were Mississippi, West Virginia, Kentucky, Louisiana and Michigan.
The lowest rates were seen in Utah, Minnesota, Alaska, Colorado and Montana.
Obesity rates among black and Hispanic youth were sharply higher than among whites and Asians.
Family income also had a major impact — the obesity rate among children in households with incomes below the federal poverty line was nearly 22 percent, compared to about nine percent in households with incomes four times higher than the poverty line.