More than three-fourths of San Benito County adults are obese or overweight compared with the rest of the state, and youths are more at risk to become addicted to smoking or use alcohol because of increased access to those products, according to new data released last week.
The San Benito County Health and Human Services Agency released new data on the availability of unhealthy and healthy food items, tobacco, and alcohol in the county – and how they are affecting residents’ health.
“Seventy-six percent of adults are obese or overweight in San Benito County,” said Sam Perez, the public information officer for the agency, in a phone interview last Wednesday. “We have some serious challenges ahead.” This is compared with a 59.8 percent statewide average for obesity in adults.
A recent survey of 47 stores in San Benito County also found 94.9 percent of stores sell alcohol, compared with a 71.3 percent state average. Additionally, only 36.8 percent of stores surveyed sell good quality fresh fruits and vegetables.
Tobacco use in adults in San Benito County is 17.6 percent compared with 15.8 percent in Santa Cruz County and 10.8 percent in Monterey County.
For youth, tobacco use is 10.7 percent in San Benito compared with 10.5 percent statewide.
“The challenge for us in public health is that a lot of these tobacco products look like candy,” Perez said.
The survey also shows that more than 48.7 percent of the stores surveyed sell e-cigarettes, while the state average is 45.7 percent. Chewing tobacco was sold in 89.7 percent of stores in the county compared with 56.1 percent statewide. Overall, 51 percent of stores in San Benito County sell tobacco products.
“This is yet another highly addictive product that is being aggressively marketed and showing up in retail stores,” said Ofelia Toldeo Prieto, the health educator with the Tobacco Education Program for the county, in a statement. “The popularity and prevalence could undermine the great work we’ve done on tobaccos use in California.”
The survey comes from a statewide initiative called Healthy Stores for a Healthy Community that surveyed more than 7,000 retail stores throughout California, in all 58 counties, to learn what products are readily available to communities.
“Our hope would be is that we look at this in the next few years to see if this has changed,” said Perez.
