NC gets poor health grades in report

Report cards are out for our state and many of the grades are below average. According to North Carolina Prevention Partners, poor nutrition, physical inactivity and tobacco use are costing the state in lives and money.

Two D’s and a C — those are the grades for our state.

“We had a C in tobacco, a D in nutrition and a D in physical activity. And those were the same grades that we saw in the 2005 report.”

North Carolina Prevention Partners is a statewide non-profit organization that studies and grades the states efforts to reduce preventable disease.

“The report shows that poor nutrition, physical activity and tobacco use cost North Carolina $26 billion every year.”

According to the report, two out of three adults are overweight or obese. And the state has the fifth highest youth obesity rate in the country. It shows people do not eat enough fruits and vegetables, or get enough exercise, and that many restaurants don’t have healthy meal options or protect their customers from second-hand smoke.

“People die here two years earlier than the national average. Those two years are important because they are largely preventable.”

Many local people aren’t surprised about the states low scores.

Wilmington resident Dreama Clayton said, “Honestly, yes, I did expect it. That’s why we have so many problems with the youth, with health with diabetes, with obesity.”

“Unfortunately, I kind of expected that,” Wilmington resident Ally Harper said. “I don’t smoke, but I have friends that smoke and you see more and more people smoking.”

The report found that North Carolina has the fifth-weakest cigarette tax at just 35 cents a pack. The director says if the state raised the tax to the national average of $1.11 that over 100,000 North Carolinians would never light up their first cigarette.

The director of NC Prevention Partners, Meg Molloy, says the states grades can be improved by people making better choices and with schools and business promoting a healthy environment.

Molloy said, “People can make healthier choices without having a tough decision if they had healthier food in their cafeteria, if people are paid on work time to stretch to take a walk to have walking meetings, then we can go a long way with those policies for decreasing preventable conditions.

Friday we’ll take a closer look at how local preventative health issues compare to North Carolina’s. We’ll find out if we are any healthier in the Cape Fear region and what’s being done to improve.

If you are interested in setting new policies at your business or school to promote a healthy lifestyle visit http://www.ncpreventionpartners.org/index.html?article=3582