Utah sets a healthy example

We may eat more ice cream than the average human and our valleys may have an inversion problem and in billionaires-per-capita California might kick sand in our face all day long, but the numbers are in for yet another year, and once again Utah is hands-down the healthiest place to live in the contiguous western United States.

Go ahead, take a bow and show off with a few deep kneebends while you're at it.

Nationally Utah ranks No. 6, which is actually down two spots from the No. 4 spot we held in 2005. But in the 17 states west of the Mississippi we continue to stick out like a stalk of celery. According to the 18 criteria used by the United Health Foundation, which has been charting the nation's health since 1990, the West is a relatively unhealthy neighborhood. Among our neighbors, New Mexico ranks 40th, Nevada 38th, Arizona 34th, Wyoming 23rd, Idaho 19th and Colorado 16th. California is 23rd. Even Oregon, with all those tree-huggers, barely cracks the top 20, tied with Idaho at 19.

The healthiest state in the union is Minnesota. Again. If Minnesota was a basketball team it would be Duke. It has been No. 1 for 11 of the 17 years the rankings have been kept. Minnesotans are tops in health insurance rates, and they have the smallest percentage of cardiovascular death. Plus it can't hurt that they stay indoors and can't communicate infectious diseases for 11 1/2 months every year.

Apart from Minnesota, the upper Eastern seaboard dominates the top of the health chart. This year, Vermont is No. 2, New Hampshire is 3, Connecticut is 5 and Massachusetts is 7. Only Hawaii, at No. 4, and Utah break up the Ivy League.

The funny thing is, we'd be No. 1 if it wasn't for the fact we don't spend much money on taking care of ourselves.

Utah is 47th out of 50 in public per capita health spending, at a mere $72 per man, woman and child.

Even Louisiana spends more, at $121 per person, and Louisiana, at No. 50, is the unhealthiest state in the nation. Katrina didn't help, but even before Katrina Louisiana was taking the elevator instead of the stairs and eating too many ribs. One in every three Louisianans is obese (sounds shocking, but in the country as a whole one in every four is obese).

The entire Deep South isn't exactly a health insurance salesman's preferred territory. Alabama is No. 45, Arkansas is 46, Tennessee is 47, South Carolina is 48, Mississippi is 49.

But back to Utah. The biggest reasons we are No. 6 (we've never been out of the top 10) are because we don't smoke much, we are excellent at childbirth and we don't get as much cancer as other places.

Our smoking percentage of 11.5 percent, our infant mortality rate of 4.7 deaths per 1,000 and our cancer death rate of 156.3 per 100,000 are all lowest in the country.

Utah is the perennial leader in lowest percentage of cancer deaths. We were No. 1 in 1990, and we are still No. 1 17 years later.

It's enough to make you wonder if maybe the people who say the downwinder hysteria is a tad overblown might be on to something.

Whatever the case, we should keep doing what we're doing, and try to rub off on the neighborhood.

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Lee Benson's column runs Sunday, Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Please send e-mail to benson@desnews.com and faxes to 801-237-2527.