"Eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow you may be in Utah."
And you'll be healthier if you are.A national insurance company has declared that Utah has the healthiest population in the nation, thanks to few contagious diseases and limited smoking and alcohol consumption.
Utah's first-rate status was announced by Northwestern National Life Insurance Co., which did a comprehensive analysis of the relative health of the population in each of the 50 states.
Meanwhile, northern Utah's Salt Lake City-Ogden area has been named America's 16th Most Livable City, according to the 1989 edition of the Places Rated Almanac.
The 333 rankings in the almanac's third edition were also based on health care, plus the categories of crime, the environment, transportation, education, the arts, recreation and climate.
Two other cities in the Intermountain Region - Provo-Orem and Boise, Idaho, - were included in the rankings. Provo-Orem area ranked 84th; Boise, 111th.
To create the NWNL State Health Rankings, the Minneapolis-based insurer combined 16 commonly accepted health measurement criteria available from government and public health organizations. The measurements were grouped into six factors, and states were ranked accordingly.
Utah scored first in good health habits, low rate of premature death and in avoidance of disease. It ranked third in life expectancy, 10th in productivity least affected by illness and 38th in access to medical care.
Overall, Delaware was last.
"Residents of Utah live 2 1/2 years longer than citizens of Delaware," said Rick Ellis, NWNL's group sales manager for Utah. "Utah residents also have one-sixth as many contagious diseases, smoke half as many cigarettes and purchase half as much alcohol as the lowest ranked state."
State epidemiologist Craig Nichols concurred that Utah's sexually transmitted disease rates "are extremely low compared to the rest of the country and always have been."
"That's because the sexual habits of Utahns are much different. That has been shown by several studies done by the Utah Department of Health, based on our investigation of herpes, AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases," Nichols said.
But, according to Nichols, immunization rates aren't as high as they should be. "In fact, in some respects we have been lucky that we haven't had major outbreaks," he said.
Ellis said another drawback in Utah is that its residents have slightly lower than average access to health care because 20 percent of the population does not have health insurance.
Why the geographical differences in disease, health habits and longevity?
"You'll probably find a pretty good correlation between health and genetics, education, a clean environment and even the cultural background," said Fredric Sattler, head of NWNL's managed health care division.
"There's less of a relation between health and income. Montana, one of the top-10 healthy states, has a median income much below the national average."
States with the highest overall health standing generally are located in the upper Midwest and the Rockies. States with the lowest rankings are mainly clustered in the Southeast and along the Atlantic Seaboard.
The state rankings are contained in a 95-page report, which contains data from 1980 to 1989.
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State rankings
Healthiest Unhealthiest
1. Utah 50. Delaware
2 North Dakota 49. Mississippi
3. Idaho 48. Michigan
4. Minnesota 47. Nevada
5 Hawaii 46. S. Carolina
6. Vermont 45. Georgia
7. Nebraska 44. Florida
8. Colorado 43. Maryland
9. Wyoming 42. Alabama
10. Montana 41. N. Carolina