Everybody's talking about how fat everybody's getting, but there has been a lack of solid figures to back it up.

Those figures are starting to come in, mostly from schools, as they test students more than once for their “body mass index” (BMI).

Assistant School Superintendent Linda Gentry is quick to add, though, that “a high BMI is not necessarily an indicator of poor health.”

“The figures (those from schools) for the most part show that kids with a high BMI are not physically fit.” As a rule, she continued, the figures coming out of Grayson County schools are “well above the national norms for the percentage of students who should register as at-risk or have a BMI that puts them in the obese category.”

They're at risk of developing the diseases associated with being overweight -- diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, etc.

Of the 2,287 students tested, kindergarten through 12th grade, 764 were obese or at-risk physically, she said. This is one-third of all the students tested.

It was figures like these, once they made their way into health and lifestyle organizations, that the county's first Health Fair got scheduled from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 16, at the middle school.

Here, organizers hope to get some solid figures on how many and why children and adults are either at-risk or obese, plus give everyone there practical ways to reach a lower BMI or to cut the fat.

The 4-hour fair will include free screenings, demonstrations, healthy lifestyle information, local assistance for exercise programs and more.

AT-RISK STUDENTS:

At-risk or obese

students tested during spring 2006:

Wilkey....43.8%

Caneyville....26.7%

Lawler....20.8%

Clarkson....28.3%

*Middle School...38.1%

**High School...48.4%

*Only 315 PE and health students tested.

**Only 273 PE and health students tested.