By Pam Doyle, Alabama Public Radio
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/wual/local-wual-495137.mp3
Tuscaloosa, AL – For years, the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta has kept figures and mapped the "progress" of obese people in each state. States move into the "red" zone when more than twenty percent of their population is termed as obese. Alabama was one of seven states to make their red debut on the map for the first time in 1998. By the next year, 17 states joined Alabama in the red, and the numbers increase each year.
This week, Pam Doyle begins a five part series on the health care costs of obesity and why residents of our state should be more concerned than the rest of the country about this trend. (This report originally aired Monday, Jan. 2nd.)