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Where do the fattest Americans live? Apparently in the suburbs of Cleveland and Toledo, Ohio. A study in the American Journal of Health Promotion singled out suburban Geauga County (Cleveland) and Fulton County (Toledo) as places with the greatest suburban sprawl and, therefore, the greatest waistlines. The point of the study, which was underwritten in part by an anti-sprawl group, was to show that low-density suburbs promote obesity. So? According to this study and others, obesity is quickly supplanting tobacco as the nation's leading health problem, contributing to a range of ailments, from heart disease to diabetes. The problem with the suburbs, say researchers, is their design: To get anywhere you have to drive. So kids don't walk to school and dads don't stroll down to the corner for a loaf of bread. And this, over time, adds to people's waistlines. Result: the average person who's 5 foot 7 in Geauga County weighs nearly six and a half pounds more than a similarly sized person in Manhattan, the most densely populated place in America. Critics say the study exaggerates the problems with sprawl. 'I don't buy it,' said the director of the Center for Human Nutrition at UCLA. 'I live in the 'burbs, and I see people all the time jogging and walking their dogs.' Others say obesity is linked more to eating habits (fatty foods and lots of it) than inertia. The study acknowledges that eating better would solve a lot of obesity problems, as would walking for exercise. But routine walking � the kind you do to drop off dry cleaning or mail a letter � may play an even bigger role than planned exercise in keeping people trim, the study says, adding that people in sprawling suburbs 'may be missing out on significant health benefits that are available simply by walking, biking, climbing stairs and getting physical activity as part of everyday life." Footnote: The study ranked 448 counties in the nation's urban areas by average weight and other obesity measures. After the two Ohio counties, the fattest places are Goochland County, near Richmond, Va., Yadkin County, near Greensboro, N.C., and Walton County, near Atlanta. To view the report, click here.