Three-fourths of blue collar, manufacturing workers in Whitfield and Murray counties are overweight or obese — have more body fat than is considered healthy — according to a new study. And almost 20 percent have been diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes or metabolic syndrome, which increases the risk of diabetes or heart disease.

The study, prepared this summer for the Northwest Georgia Healthcare Partnership, looked at employees at plants of Shaw Industries, Brown Industries and Beaulieu of America. The partnership was formed in 1992 to help improve health care in the greater Dalton area.

Dalton State College social work professor Robin Cleeland headed the study.

“Almost 50 percent of the employees we surveyed worked more than 40 hours a week in paid jobs,” she said. “Some of that was with those companies, but some people have second jobs and were working 80 hours a week for money.”

She said that leaves those people with little time for exercise or other measures that might improve their health.

Time was the most important barrier to exercise, but more than 60 percent of those surveyed had at least three different barriers to exercise, including lack of sidewalks or parks in their neighborhoods to walk in.

Jim Hazel, director of Murray Medical Center and a partnership board member, said the most surprising findings regarded “food security.” Forty-one percent of those surveyed said they sometimes or often could not afford a sufficient supply of food.

How does that square with so many being overweight?

Cleeland says the answer is that the cheapest foods aren’t always the healthiest. In fact, some cheap fast food meals are still loaded in fats, carbohydrates and calories.

“When we looked at which people in the sample seemed to have the most problems with food security issues, it was women, and primarily it was white women,” she said.

The study found that 86.7 percent of the employees surveyed were covered by health insurance from their employer. And for each employee covered, one other person in their household was also covered by health insurance. But Cleeland said an average of three other people in each household were not covered by health insurance.

The study also found that workers tend to overestimate the amount of exercise they need to make a difference in their health.

“They think they need to exercise for an hour a day, five days a week, or something like that. They also think that if they can’t eat healthy there’s no reason to exercise. It’s sort of an all-or-nothing syndrome,” said Nancy Kennedy, executive director of the partnership.

Kennedy said the partnership will use this data to work with companies and local governments and community groups to try to address some of the problems the study uncovered.

“One of the things we are talking about is some kind of community-wide walking program,” she said. “Some ways to motivate individuals and families to get out and walk more.”