The great expansion; Colorado's reputation as the land of the thin(ner) has become a marketing tool for business - but we're starting to pack on the pounds.

• Author: Reuteman, Rob
• Position: PLANET-PROFIT REPORT - Survey

Tom Clark hung up the phone, baffled by what he'd just been asked.

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The year was 2003. The executive vice president of the Metro Denver Economic Development Corp. had fielded a call from a national site selection firm, hired by a large company to find a suitable area in which to expand.

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The site selector asked Clark if he could provide a county-by-county obesity index for metro Denver.

"I'd never ever heard that question," Clark recalled recently. "But immediately I sensed a sea change. We didn't know where in the world to look for such a thing, but I said, 'We're sure someone does that. We'll get right back to you.'"

The closest Clark could come at the time was an annual survey done by the state health department on the prevalence of diabetes, a disease closely linked to obesity. Obesity is shown to be a major risk factor for other chronic ailments, including high blood pressure, high cholesterol, stroke, heart disease and asthma. For employers, studies show that poor employee health leads to lower productivity, lower morale, higher absenteeism and higher insurance claims.

Why an obesity epidemic in the workplace? Jobs that have become mostly sedentary. The transition to a "knowledge economy," in which workers sit in front of a computer all day. People too busy to cook healthy meals. Video games, huge flat-screen, high-def TV screens.

"Productivity matters," Clark said. "It's never a deal-breaker for us, but it's definitely a factor when you're a high-priced market surrounded by low-cost competitive states with more money for economic incentives."

Clark and his team began to research the issue. "We began looking at the cost of obesity in the workplace and how it manifests itself," he said

What they found was almost too good to be true. And it may not be true for long.

The national Centers for Disease Control consistently ranks Colorado as the least obese state in the country in its annual obesity index.

In 2008, only one state - Colorado - had a prevalence of obesity less than 20 percent. Thirty-two states had a prevalence equal to or greater than 25 percent. Six (Alabama, Mississippi, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee and West Virginia) had obesity rates equal to or greater than 30 percent.

Also, the nonprofit Trust for America's Health says Colorado has some of the lowest rates in the country of overweight residents, physical inactivity, hypertension and childhood obesity. Overall, Colorado ranks as the leanest state in its study.

"We found we had a lot to brag about, so we did," Clark said.

The MDEDC began touting Colorado's newfound "skinniest state" reputation as a marketing tool for economic development. It embarked on a five-year, $4 million, national ad campaign - Energetic Bodies, Energetic Minds-branding the region as a prime place to...