Obesity, Poverty Spur Infant Death Rate Hike in the South

The adage "the South will rise again" has taken on a new and foreboding meaning.

The New York Times reports that after years of progress, the infant mortality rates in Mississippi and neighboring states have started to increase.

Mississippi's infant mortality rate is particularly alarming, the Times reports. Between 2004 and 2005 it jumped from an average of 9.7 deaths of babies per 1,000 to 11.4. And while the infant death rate increased for both whites and blacks, it was dramatically higher among blacks, the newspaper said.

The number of infant deaths among blacks in Mississippi in 2004 was 14.2 per 1,000 births; in 2005 it was 17. For whites the rate was 6.1 deaths per 1,000 in 2004, and in 2005 it was 6.6. Both of these figures are considerably above the national average.

Researchers say that diet and poverty go hand-in-hand in causing the infant mortality increase, the Times reports. Obesity has reached epidemic levels, the newspaper says. "The mothers in general, black or white, are not as healthy," says Dr. Bouldin Marley, one of the Mississippi physicians interviewed for the story. He said complications from obesity were the primary causes of health problems.