Where you live may have a serious impact on your weight and health, according to a statewide study released last week.

Using data on the locations of retail food outlets and the health statistics of 40,000 Californians, researchers found that people who have easier access to fast-food and convenience stores than grocery and produce outlets are more likely to suffer from obesity and diabetes.

“We’re living in a fast-food jungle and the health effects of that are obvious,” said Harold Goldstein, executive director of the Davis-based California Center for Public Health Advocacy, an author of the study.

The study was co-authored by the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research and PolicyLink, a nonprofit health advocacy group.

“We now have hard science to show that all this junk food in our neighborhoods is contributing to the growing obesity and diabetes epidemic,” Goldstein said. “What we found was a strong and direct relationship between the food options available in a neighborhood and the health of the people living there.”

Researchers developed a score called the Retail Food Environment Index that compares the number of fast-food and convenience stores to the number of grocery stores and produce outlets in different areas. The higher the index, the more fast-food options there are in comparison to grocery and produce options.

For the participants in the study, the statewide average index was 4.5, meaning there are four-and-a-half fast-food and convenience stores in their neighborhoods for every grocery store or produce outlet.

The study found that people who live in areas with five times as many fast-food options as grocery options were 23 percent more likely to be obese and 20 percent more likely to have diabetes as compared to people who live in areas with three times as many fast-food options.

The county with the highest average index was San Bernardino, with a score of 5.6. In other words, there are 5.6 times as many fast-food options as there are produce and grocery options. Stanislaus County was the second-highest with 5.48. The counties with the lowest scores were Marin and Santa Cruz, at 2.06 and 2.24, respectively.

Data was not compiled for Yolo County or any county with fewer than 250,000 residents, but Goldstein said the results were still applicable.

“There are certainly some neighborhoods in Davis where there are a lot of healthy options and there are some neighborhoods where it is predominantly fast food,” he said. “We’re more likely to eat the food that’s around us than we are to go far away to eat.”

Cheryl Boney, deputy director for Public Health Programs for Yolo County, said the study reinforces the idea that more than just the choices people make that affect their health.

“A lot of people like to say it’s a personal thing, but there really are other factors that matter,” Boney said.

Health officials have been attending planning commission and other public meetings to encourage local leaders to create healthy balances in communities, she said.

“We want to make sure obesity and environment is being considered in the design,” she said. “We want to try to make it an environment that encourages physical activity and also has different resources available.”

Roughly 60 percent of adults in Yolo County are obese or overweight, she said, and the number of children in these categories is growing as well.

The authors of the study included several recommendations for policymakers to improve public health. Victor Rubin, vice president of research at PolicyLink, said local leaders should look at ways to improve the number of healthy options in areas where they are lacking, particularly in low-income areas. This could be achieved by providing financial incentives.

“The best program of financial incentive … is Pennsylvania’s Fresh Food Financing Initiative,” Rubin said. “It’s been very successful at providing loans and grants for new stores.”

There is a bill in the state legislature to create a California version of that program, which is designed to encourage grocery store growth, he said, but in the meantime, it’s up to the community to make the change.

“Many of the places we’ve seen that have created healthier options have that because the neighbors really demanded it and figured out how to make it happen,” he said.

The report has generated opposition among some groups, including the California Restaurant Association. The association did not respond to multiple calls for comment, but said in the Los Angeles Times on Apr. 29 that health is up to the individual.

“To suggest that living near a quick-service restaurant is a health threat akin to living next to a coal plant is ludicrous,” said association president Jot Condie in the Los Angeles Times article.

The study’s authors also recommended that fast-food restaurants be required to post nutritional information on menu boards. A bill that would have done just that in California was vetoed by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in October.

More information and the full text of the study can be found online at publichealthadvocacy.org/designedfordisease.html.

JEREMY OGUL can be reached at city@californiaaggie.com. XXX

On Apr. 24,Yolo County Animal Services Shelter had an important message for the public.The Yolo County Animal Services Shelterlocated at 2640 East Gibson Road in Woodland had its first definite case of canine distemper, as reported in the press release. The diseased dog was from the Yolo County community.

“This is the first time distemper has been found ina dog at our shelter since our chief animal services officer began her career over20years ago,” said Michele Wallace,public information officer at theYolo County SheriffDepartment.

The shelter has not been able to accept dogs for the past two weeks and has closed all night deposit boxes.The shelter hopes to start accepting dogs again by today.

“Once it reachesMay7and we still have problems,we mayhave to extend.But bless[the dogs‘] hearts,everything will be back to normal,” Wallace said.

Distemper is a single-strand RNA virus.It is a paramyxovirus,like measles,said Patricia Pesavento,associate professor of clinical and anatomic pathology at UC Davis.It can invade the immune,respiratory and skin systems andcan also cause neurological problems,she added.

In order to keep the low-risk dogs safe from the virus,many dogs have been sent to other shelters,Wallace said.Infected dogs cannot transmit distemper to humans,butthe viruscan harm other dogs.

“Dogs with distemper need to be isolated,as it is a virus that can be spread to other dogs,“ Wallace said.

Not all Yolo County Shelter dogs have been spared from the disease.

“Sadly,some [dogs] haveneeded to be euthanized at the shelter.But that is not something that the shelter does when other means of saving an animal can be accomplished,” Wallace said.

TheUC Davis Koret Shelter Medical Program is helpingwiththis case of distemper.Dr.Kate Hurley,director at the UCD Koret Shelter Medical Program,said theprogram works closely with theYoloCountyshelter.

“When they do have a problem,we work with them,” Hurley said. “They have vets contracted with us and they are the only shelter with our contracted vets.“

Hurley added that distemper is not a common problem in this area.Distemper is preventablewith a vaccine.

The Yolo County Shelter is dedicated to vaccinating their dogs,and all dogs that come to the shelter have been vaccinated for distemper,Pesaventosaid.

“The [veterinarians] are now trying to figure out why in the face of vaccination this happened,“ Pesavento said.

Signs of the disease can take one to two weeks after exposure or even longer,so most likely an infected dog came into the shelter then was vaccinated,she said.

“Vaccination is an absolute necessity in prevention,” Pesavento said. “You can protect a dog with the vaccination.“

SASHA LEKACH can be reached at city@californiaaggie.com XXX.

According to social etiquette, asking someone how much money he or she makes is a daring move. But when you are paying the person’s salary with your tax dollars, is the question more permissible?

Thanks to a database on The Sacramento Bee’s website, users can request the base salary of any worker for the state of California and have an answer within seconds.

On Mar. 4, The Bee launched its newest and highly controversial database. By entering the first and last name of a state employee, pay range, job title or agency, anyone can view the base pay of those employed by the state of California. The site also provides summaries of salaries of interest, including the top-five highest-paid state workers and the UC workers with the highest gross salary.

The database was compiled by Bee writer Phillip Reese. He used the services of a third party database company, Caspio, based in Mountain View, Calif., and had the site up and running in three weeks.

“I wanted to take a look at state pay due to the budget crisis. Plus technology makes doing something like this a lot easier than it used to be,” Reese said.

The site has had over 6 million hits since it was launched just over two months ago.

“It’s the most successful thing we’ve had on the news side,” Reese said.

The income of a state worker is public record – anyone can view it if they know where to look. Yet despite this fact, there have been outcries from some of the state employees themselves, citing privacy rights and ethical issues.

The Service Employees International Union has been against the database from the beginning. A press release posted on the union’s website states, “Since March 4, Local 1000 has received dozens of calls and e-mails from members with legitimate safety concerns. Members protected by restraining orders or victims of violence have now had their privacy invaded by a publication that was simply looking to increase circulation or traffic on its website.”

The union urged its members to call or e-mail editor Melanie Sill or public editor Armando Acuña to voice concerns.

The initial flood of e-mails and phone calls was stifling, and in the first three weeks following the release of the database, Reese received hundreds of complaints per day.

The union is still unsatisfied with the database, said spokesperson Jim Zamora.

“Union leaders didn’t decide this was an issue, it was decided for us by how many people got mad and asked us to do something,” Zamora said.

Service Employees International Union Local 1000 represents 93,000 people, most of whom are state employees. These workers are not all upper management either – they are secretaries, janitors, engineers and mail room workers.

“These are people that are not in the publiceye,” Zamora said. “But their information has been made public. They are upset that anyone you meet in a casual circumstance can punch you in and see how much you make. You could ask someone on a date, and they can go home and find out your salary.”

It is not the legality of the database the union is questioning. They recognize that The Bee is working within the parameters of the law. Though the ideal outcome for the union would be to have the laws changed, they recognize that this would be laborious and difficult, Zamora said.

“The law as it stands is on The Bee’s side,” Zamora said. “They have a legal right to do this, and we’re not questioning that. We support The Bee and its investigative efforts, but the database is something we take issue with.”

The union has received many e-mails from female union members who have been or are currently victims of domestic violence and are fearful the database will allow their attackers to find them when they’ve worked to keep a low profile.

Though there have been no reports of attacks due to the use of the database, it is the fear of the victims that concerns the union.

“We hoped that The Bee would change the database, make it harder to find someone by name, or to only list those who work middle-management jobs or higher,” Zamora said. “But they didn’t change anything. We are not satisfied.”

With members of the union and other state workers demanding answers, it was impossible for public editor Acuña to give all inquirers the personalized response they asked for. He and Sill wrote articles in response to the complaints. In an article published Mar. 5, Sill addressed the most frequently asked questions and provided an e-mail address created for comments specifically about the database.

“We do not believe we are publishing information that could not easily be obtained from other public sources,” Sill wrote in a Bee article. “State workers’ names and locations, for instance, are available online through the state government employee directory. So is other information, such as employees’ e-mail addresses, that we have not published.”

In another article written by Sill, published Mar. 18, she wrote, “In essence, the salary databases are part of the state’s checkbook register, where transactions are recorded. The owners of the checking account are California’s taxpayers.”

The Bee is not the first media organization to post a database cataloguing state workers’ salaries. Milwaukee’s Journal Sentinel has a database of Wisconsin’s state employees’ pay. Georgia and Iowa make their databases available directly.

Acuña said he hasn’t received a complaint in the past two weeks, and the initial reaction of the public was one that naturally dissipated.

“The ‘the sky is falling’ complaint is not coming to any fruition. It doesn’t have the emotional tie or reaction that was there in the beginning. Once you know that it’s there, you [are] most likely not going to go back out of curiosity again. If you go back, it will be for needed information,” he said.

Reese, the creator of the database, said he believes the database is a useful tool for the public.

“It’s not that I’m unsympathetic, but what we published was basic public information available to anyone,” he said. “I have no problem in general with making public information easier to access. I believe it is our duty as reporters to make it more accessible to the public.”

But to the union, this is an issue that remains valid. Though complaints have died down to a low buzz, Zamora said this is still a top priority for the union.

“We now recognize that we need a plan B,” he said, “but we need to figure out what that plan will be.”

ALI EDNEY can be reached at city@californiaaggie.com. XXX