Theoretically, Imperial Valley should be one of the healthiest areas of the nation if you look at food production. With a more than $1 billion agriculture industry growing almost anything under the sun, including artichokes, bamboo shoots, citrus, hay, leafy greens, broccoli, cauliflower, and more than 100 other types of crops, residents should have a nearly unlimited supply of fresh fruit, vegetables and meat, leading to a health community.
On a clear night in the southern Valley towns of Tulare, Huron and Tranquillity, you sometimes can see a full moon over the thousands of miles of agriculture. On a warm, summer evening, these harvest moons are brilliant to see. However, disturbing to this brilliant scenery is the stench of spray drift from pesticides that linger at night and the choking thickness of particulate matter, the smog considered one of the worst in the nation, that engulfs the Valley on warm days.
While obesity is a problem for Americans in all walks of life, it’s worse when you don’t live near a park, when access to public transportation is limited, when sidewalks are broken and streetlights are few. In fact, a National Institutes of Health study found that just living in a socioeconomically deprived area leads to weight gain and a greater risk of dying at an early age. In stark terms, people in Culver City live an average of eight years longer than people in Jefferson Park, according to Crump. Yet these two communities in the middle of Los Angeles are only a couple of miles apart.
Some non-profit hospitals in the San Francisco Bay Area receive millions of dollars in tax breaks each year to care for the poor and uninsured, yet they provide only a fraction of local charity care. Sandy Kleffman reports.
A huge rise in antidepressant use, a bad report card for American health system, and a boost for the Pap smear in today's Daily Briefing.
Say goodbye to your Primatene Mist, more health insurance coverage for young adults, good news for children's health and more in our Daily Briefing.
As the 10th anniversary of 9/11 approaches, it’s time to highlight some recent studies and media coverage of the long-term health impacts of the attacks.
Millions of American women were put on hormone replacement therapy before science evaluated the benefits and harms. Will men over 45 try testosterone replacement therapy too? Aggressive marketing of testosterone is on the rise.
Seattle is known as a haven for foodies, so it was something of a shameful surprise to discover that Seattle has a food desert in its own backyard.
Angela Glover Blackwell of PolicyLink shares ideas and reporting tips for covering the links between your health and where you live.
