Health Reporter has released its state-by-state ranking of nutritional well-being across the United States.
I thought it would be interesting to crossmatch this list with levels of produce consumption.
There’s a close correlation, especially on the lowest end of the spectrum.
The bottom five in nutritional health:
50. Oklahoma
49. Mississippi
48. Louisiana
47. Arkansas
46. West Virginia
Notice how this matches the list for lowest in produce consumption:
50. Mississippi
49. Oklahoma
48. Alabama
47. Louisiana
46. West Virginia
Four out of five states—Mississippi, Oklahoma, Louisiana, and West Virginia—appear on both lists.
Here are the states that are doing the best in nutritional well-being:
1. Massachusetts
2. Utah
3. Vermont
4. Minnesota
5. Colorado
The top five in produce consumption:
1. Vermont
2. Massachusetts
3. Connecticut
4. New York
5. Maine
Here is a smaller overlap—only two states out of five: Vermont and Massachusetts. But still, that’s a 40 percent match.
The overlap between the two lists can to a certain extent be explained by Health Reporter’s criteria for nutritional well-being:
“• Healthiest eaters score
“• Prevalence of 25 most popular diets
“• Number of fast food outlets
“• Meeting nutrients intake recommendations
“• Daily veggies consumption < 1 time”
Health Reporter’s criteria include daily vegetable consumption, making it more likely that the two lists will match up. Even so, the correspondence is striking.
Yet more evidence telling the nation what it knows but avoids acting on: the more fresh fruits and vegetables in your diet, the healthier you’re likely to be.
