How is it Determined that Colorado is the Least Obese State?

Colorado has once again been recognized as the least-obese state in the nation. In fact, the Centennial State and the District of Columbia were found to be the only two parts of the country with an average obesity rate less than 25%.

The study took the research a step further, breaking down the results by ethnicity and in every category, including Non-Hispanic Asian adults, Non-Hispanic White adults, Non-Hispanic American Indian or Alaska Native adults, Hispanic adults, and Non-Hispanic Black adults, Colorado still came out on top.

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One can't help but wonder, how is this data gathered and how are these statistics determined? The answer may surprise you.

How is it Determined that Colorado is the Least Obese State in the Nation?

This particular study is conducted by the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, commonly abbreviated as BRFSS. The BRFSS was first established in 1984 and conducts an impressive number of interviews each year by telephone.

Yes, believe it or not, this system still uses telephone calls to gather its data. In fact, the BRFSS conducts over a whopping 400,000 interviews over the phone each year, in all 50 states, United States territories, and the District of Columbia.

While this method appears to have been working for quite some time, one can't help but wonder if any of the statistics gathered are skewed due to the culture of disregarding "spam" phone calls and the way that as a whole, the number of people with landlines has diminished greatly.

Regardless, according to this study, Colorado is once again the least obese state in the country and proud of it.