Catholic Online (www.catholic.org)

Los Angeles County ranked 28th healthiest place to live in California.

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - In Los Angeles, 22% of adults are obese, 19% are inactive, 16% drink excessively, and 22% state they are in poor health.

The University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute and the Rober Wood Johnson Foundation produced these rankings that compare counties throughout the state. Factors that determine how healthy a county is include the rates of premature deaths, percent of people in poor health, teen births, smoking, obesity, education, frequency of fast food restaurants, physical inactivity, and air pollution level.

"We want to do better," said Dr. Jonathan Fielding, director of public health for the county. "There is no question about that. But we are a very large, diverse county, and we have the diversity of problems along with that."

Los Angeles County has taken steps to promote exercise to reduce obesity rates. The county supervisors approved a bill requiring new developments to have wider sidewalks, bicycle parking, and helping communities start gardens and hold farmer's markets.

"The rankings can motivate leaders to improve the health of their counties," said Dr. Patrick Remington, associate dean for public health at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health. "It serves as a call to action for people to think about how their community compares to others"

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