The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention used county data to find areas where people are most at risk for the blood sugar disease.
People living in the diabetes belt were more likely to be obese and have a sedentary lifestyle.
Researchers have known for a long time that diabetes was more common in the Southeast, but they wanted a more adequate definition.
The diabetes belt includes portions of Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia , West Virginia and Mississippi.
