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Bruce Green, an Arkansas resident, turns over big ol' turkeys in advance of a Thanksgiving Salvation Army celebration (Associated Press, Michael Orrell).
Here at PolitiFact Georgia, it’s time for some gratitude, not to mention days of feasting with family and friends.
While you’re lying motionless, trying to digest like a snake after a big meal, we offer a chance to get the skinny on chubby turkeys and whether we should have offered some celery without the stuffing
In our own way, we’re saying happy Thanksgiving!
"Turkeys today weigh 29.8 pounds. In the ‘30s, they weighed 13.2 pounds."
Mother Jones on Monday, November 24, 2014 in a Facebook post
Our friends at PolitiFact Wisconsin know more than beer and cheese when it comes to food fact-checks.
They recently spotted this claim from Mother Jones and dug in:
"Turkeys today weigh 29.8 pounds," the liberal magazine stated on its Facebook page. "In the ‘30s, they weighed 13.2 pounds."
The claim linked to a November 2013 report from the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Economics & Statistics Administration.
That report contained the figures Mother Jones cited, saying turkeys have more than doubled in weight -- from an average of 13.2 pounds in 1929 to 29.8 pounds in 2012.
The Wisconsin scribes found that, if anything, Mother Jones might be light on its claim.
The average weight for 2013 is actually a half-pound higher, at 30.3 pounds, according to Michael Klamm, an agricultural statistician at the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
However, the 2012 figure cited by Mother Jones is considered final, whereas the 2013 figure is still subject to revision, Klamm said.
The preliminary figure for 2013 is even higher, at 30.3 pounds.
We rated the statement True (and the turkey delicious).
"Georgia has the second-highest rate of childhood obesity in the United States."
Children's Healthcare of Atlanta on Saturday, November 20th, 2010 in a press release
Back in 2010, the Atlanta hospital that specializes in pediatric care sent out a news release to showcase a sad ranking for Georgia’s children.
"Georgia has the second-highest rate of childhood obesity in the United States," the release from Children's Healthcare of Atlanta.
Second? Out of all the states in the union? Are Georgia kids really that hefty?
A hospital spokeswoman pointed us to a report issued by the Trust for America's Health, a nonprofit group that specializes in disease prevention.
Sure enough, there Georgia was, second only to Mississippi in 2007 for obesity rates among 10- to 17-year-olds. In this state, 21.3 percent of children were obese, the report said. Mississippi's rate was 21.9 percent.
We looked at several surveys on the subject. There was some variance, but there's widespread agreement that Georgia kids are obese. And by one widely respected measure, Georgia's kids were the second-most obese in the nation.
And now? The latest report, in 2014, showed Georgia had fallen under 20 percent obesity rates, at least for kids between 10 and 17. But the 2011 report that updated our original check showed the Peach State was still Number Two.
We continue to rate Children's Healthcare of Atlanta's statement True.
Our Sources
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