Report: Calif. Regions Boast Low Rates of Obesity, Unhealthy Habits

Several California regions have among the lowest rates of obesity and unhealthy habits in the U.S., according to a recent WalletHub report, KQED's "State of Health" reports (Brooks, "State of Health," KQED, 3/2).

Details of Report

The report examined the 100 largest U.S. metro areas, including six in California.

Researchers examined various metrics under three categories:

Obesity prevalence;
Unhealthy habits and consequences, including rates of diabetes, high cholesterol and hypertension; and
Healthy environment (Bernardo, WalletHub report, March 2015).

In addition to WalletHub's research, data for the report was taken from:

CDC;
The Child and Adolescent Health Measurement Initiative; and
The Department of Agriculture Economic Research Service ("State of Health," KQED, 3/2).

California Findings

According to the report, the highest-ranking California metro area was San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, which ranked third overall, but had the lowest obesity rate of any metro area in the report.

Meanwhile:

San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward ranked fifth overall;
Sacramento-Roseville-Arden-Arcade ranked 14th;
San Diego-Carlsbad ranked 17th;
Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim ranked 19th; and
Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario ranked 42nd (WalletHub report, March 2015).

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