Three cheers for New York City!
The Bloomberg administration’s longterm focus on public health appears to be paying off, as a pair of reports released this week suggests. The childhood obesity rate in New York declined more than 5% in recent years, and made significant strides in other U.S. cities, including Miami and Philadelphia, as well. The positive news comes with a caveat, as the decrease in New York was less significant among minority and low-income children.
Mayor Bloomberg’s office announced all-time high life expectancy and all-time low infant mortality figures in conjunction with the Health Department this week. Babies born in 2010 have a life expectancy of 80.9 years—more than two years longer than the national average. And New York City’s infant mortality rate fell in 2011 to an all-time low of 4.7 deaths per 1,000 live births, this time with improvements seen across all ethnic groups.
The mayor’s office is quick to claim the positive news as a result of their commitment to public health. Over the span of Bloomberg’s decade-long mayorship, the Big Apple has benefited from several much-imitated health initiatives, including:
- Smoking ban in most restaurants and bars, and in outdoor public places
- Trans-fat ban in restaurants
- Calorie count posting requirement at chain eateries
- Ban on sugary beverages over 16 oz.
While New York City has made significant strides toward healthier living under Bloomberg’s mayorship, a new report from the ocean conservatory group Oceana details fish mislabeling in restaurants and stores in NYC and other cities across the country. Aside from the “bait and switch” economic issue of patrons paying for higher-priced fish than they are consuming, the mislabeling can create significant health hazards for pregnant women, those with food allergies, or for anyone seeking to lower their consumption of mercury and other toxins.
