Obesity Report Cites Increase African American Youth ATLANTA, GA (WABE) - A new report by Trust for America's Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation lists Georgia with the 14th highest rate of adult obesity in the nation.
It's even higher among African American youth between the ages of 10 and 17.
WABE's Rose Scott reports this is familiar news so, what's keeping Georgia's kids fat?

The obesity rate among children has been increasing and
Angela Glover Blackwell says the reasons are both complex and interrelated.

Glover Black says there many African American families that live in areas that don't have easy access to fresh fruits and because there are no grocery stores in their communities.

That's one reason, the other factor,an over representation of junk food and fast food restaurants.

Blackwell is the chair of the advisory board for the foundation and its Center to prevent childhood obesity.
She's advocating a movement to reverse that trend and says it begins with getting more grocery stores in underserved communities.

Blackwell says federal funding such as President Obama's Healthy Food Financing Initiative will help in trimming the fat from today's youth.
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