Kentucky Obesity Rates and Location of Farmers Markets

Kentucky has one of the highest obesity rates in the country. We used stats from County Health Rankings to display the percentage of the Commonwealth’s population by county that are obese. We then added a second metric — the location of farmers’ markets across the state. It’s quickly obvious the lack of these sources of fresh food in those counties with the highest obesity rates. But if access to farm-raised food was a significant factor in lowering obesity, then one might expect to see lower rates in those counties with multiple farmers markets. There are obviously other factors at play here — such as activity level, tobacco use and other risk factors — and access to fresh food may be just one more.

 

FactLook - KY Obesity Rate and Farmers Markets

 

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