In reporting the story yesterday about Kern being No. 3 for its concentration of fast food and convenience stores, I came across a couple of buzz words.

Fast food jungle. Food desert.

Considering we live in neither a jungle nor desert — well, most of us anyway — I came up with my own: calorie valley.

A new study released today has Kern third, among the most populous California counties, with 5.23 times as many fast-food restaurants and convenience stores than supermarkets and produce vendors.

The researchers argue that this results higher prevalence of diabetes and obesity.

Kern was first for diabetes prevalence, among the counties surveyed, at 10.2 percent. For obesity, it’s fourth with 28.2 percent of residents obese.

(Read "Study: Kern No. 3 for fast-food, convenience stores" in today's Californian. The study, which was done by the California Center for Public Health Advocacy, PolicyLink and the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research, is attached.)

The researchers offer several solutions to counteract the fatty forest, the McTundra.

• Provide incentives, such as low-interest loans and grants, for retail store development and improvement.
• Promote smaller-scale markets, like mobile vendors, farmers’ markets and cooperatives.
• Ensure that low-income communities can take advantage of upcoming changes to the food offered by WIC. The new changes include offering fruits, vegetables, whole grains and low-fat dairy.
• Implement zoning changes to limit how many fast-food restaurants can operate in an area.
• Require restaurants to post nutritional information on menu boards.

The county Public Health Department is working to identify communities lacking in healthy food options, said spokesman Daniel Kim.

They are also promoting a farmers' market at the department's headquarters on Mt. Vernon Avenue, which will run weekly throughout the summer. This will hopefully start next month.

The department is waiting to see what happens with menu labeling bills that are making their way through the legislature. Sen. Alex Padilla's SB 1420 would require restaurants to post nutritional info on menu boards. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed a similar bill last year.

Kern County Assemblywoman Nicole Parra's AB 2572, which is backed by the California Restaurant Association, makes restaurants post information on tray liners, brochures, food case stickers or posters, not menu boards.

Kim praised the Central California Regional Obesity Prevention Program for tackling obesity issues locally. The group will officially unveil a new walking path in Greenfield May 10.

What do you think of these solutions? Anything to add to the list?

— Emily Hagedorn, health reporter
(661) 395-7510
ehagedorn@bakersfield.com