Group: More than half in 39 states will be obese

We Americans already know how fat we are. Can it get much worse?

Apparently, yes, according to an advocacy group that predicts that by 2030 more than half the people in the vast majority of states will be obese.

Mississippi is expected to continue as the fattest state in the nation for at least two more decades. The report predicts 67 percent of that state's adults will be obese by 2030; that would be an astounding increase from the current 35 percent.

The projections were issued yesterday by Trust for America's Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, which regularly report on obesity.

The group's dismal forecast goes beyond the 42 percent national obesity level that federal health officials project by 2030. It predicts every state would have rates above 44 percent by that time.

About two-thirds of Americans are overweight now. That includes the obese, who account for about 36 percent of them.

"If we don't do anything, I think that's a fair prediction," said Dr. Thomas Farley, health commissioner in New York City, of the Truth for America's Health projection. The city just passed a regulation banning supersize sugary drinks to curb obesity. -- AP