Seven states with the country’s highest obesity rates are in the South, but this issue that causes health problems such as diabetes and heart conditions cannot be blamed simply on Southern roots.

A study by the Southern Rural Development Center headquartered at Mississippi State University found that simply living in a region does not lead to obesity. In “The South Does Not Make You Fat: A study of nutrition, food security and obesity,” researchers found that minorities and lower-income groups have higher obesity rates.

“They find that the likelihood of being overweight or obese does not significantly differ across regions of the country after accounting for income, age, race-ethnicity and education,” the report stated.

The authors analyzed data from the Deep South — Mississippi, Arkansas, Louisiana, Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee and South Carolina. They found that body mass index, or BMI, and obesity rates were higher in the Deep South than elsewhere, but these differences disappeared once factors such as age, income and race-ethnicity were considered.

“Low income, for example, is a better predictor of being overweight or obese for women than living in the South, as is being black or Hispanic,” the report stated. “The Deep South, in particular, has higher minority populations and more low income individuals than other regions of the country.”