The Trust for America's Health, a research group that focuses on disease prevention, says more than 20 percent of adult residents in 47 other states are also considered obese.
West Virginia and Alabama follow just behind while Tennessee tied with South Carolina for fifth place. The state that bottoms the fattest states list is Colorado, with just 17.6 percent of its residents considered obese.
The health experts are worried that if current obesity trends hold, Mississippi could face huge increases in the already significant costs of treating diabetes, heart disease and other ailments caused by obesity.
Since obesity also comes with poverty, the report also calls Mississippi as one of the poorest states in the nation, with the Delta being the poorest region of Mississippi.
The Trust's "F as in Fat" report combines data from 2004 to 2006 from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Behavioral Risk Surveillance System.
In an attempt to curb the growing problem of obesity, Mississippi's public schools already are taking steps to prevent obesity by introducing a new law in school that asks for 150 minutes of physical activity instruction and 45 minutes of health education instruction each week for students in kindergarten through 8th grade.
Also, there is a ban on selling of full-calorie soft drinks to students. Coming 2008, elementary and middle schools will allow only water, juice and milk, while high schools will allow only water, juice, sports drinks and diet soft drinks, the Associated Press reports.
