Alabama closing in as fattest state

WASHINGTON (AP) - Mississippi's still king of cellulite, but an ominous tide is rolling toward the Medicare doctors in neighboring Alabama: obese baby boomers.

It's time for the nation's annual obesity rankings and, outside of fairly lean Colorado, there's little good news.

Obesity rates among adults rose in 23 states over the past year and didn't decline anywhere, says a new report from the Trust for America's Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

And while the nation has long been bracing for a surge in Medicare as the boomers start turning 65, the new report makes clear that fat, not just age, will fuel much of those bills.

In every state, the rate of obesity is higher among 55- to 64-year-olds - the oldest boomers - than among today's 65-and-beyond.

Mississippi had the highest rate of adult obesity, 32.5 percent, for the fifth year in a row.

Mississippi also had the highest rate of overweight and obese children, at 44.4 percent. It's followed by Arkansas, 37.5 percent; and Georgia, 37.3 percent.

Here's a surrounding state list of obesity rates, each state's obesity ranking in the nation and the percentage point change from the previous report, according to the Trust for America's Health:

State  Rate  Rank  Change

Ala.     31.2     2         1.1
Fla.     24.1   39         0.8
Ga.     27.9    14        0.4
Miss.  32.5      1        0.8
Tenn. 30.2      4        1.3