There are significant, persistent disparities in the prevalence and consequences of chronic illnesses: disparities of race, ethnicity, and income that are linked not just to nutrition and physical activity directly, but also to the social, economic and community-level conditions in which people live. These conditions largely shape people's capacity to maintain a good diet and a life that includes healthful physical activity. While individual behavior and access to quality health services are key, these disparities will not be eliminated without addressing community conditions. This brief explains the importance of community and neighborhood to the obesity epidemic, and proposes solutions.

Research on rhesus monkeys found that subordinant monkeys were more likely than dominant monkeys to overindulge in high-calorie snacks when they were made available, and more likely to "binge" on this food at night. This and other studies with humans provide emperical evidence for what many of us already know from personal experience: we are more likely to eat poorly when we're under stress.

This report looks at the effects of "food deserts" (areas with minimal access to grocery stores) on the health of residents in Chicago's neighborhoods. The study develops an empirical score to quantify the balance of food choice (groceries vs. fast food outlets) available to residents, and compares food access and food balance directly to health outcomes, holding constant education, income, and race. They find that African American communities are especially likely to have poor balance of food choice, and that residents of these "food deserts" suffer noticable health effects.

The worst case of food inflation in nearly 20 years has more Americans giving up restaurant meals to eat at home. We're buying fewer luxury food items, eating more leftovers and buying more store brands instead of name-brand items.

Describes a new study that shows the price of fruits and vegetables is climbing faster than inflation, while junk food is actually becoming cheaper. Includes price-per-calorie comparison of nutritious vs. "junk" foods.

The purpose of this site is to bring together, for public dissemination, information about and related to Job Strain (specifically) and Work Stress (in general).

This report reviews the most recently available data from a range of national and international sources on statutory requirements for paid leave and paid public holidays in 21 rich countries (16 European countries, Australia, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, and the United States). In addition to our finding that the United States is the only country in the group that does not require employers to provide paid leave, we also note that almost every other rich country has also established legal rights to paid public holidays over and above paid leave.

De Graaf comments on the findings of a recent ILO report that U.S. workers produce per capita wealth than any other country and are second most productive per hour in the world, yet more people are working longer hours just to make ends meet. After presenting statistics on how badly we compare to European countries on quality of life indicators, he makes the case for a federal mandate of three weeks paid vacation per year.

Take Back Your Time is a campaign to pass The Minimum Leave Protection, Family Bonding and Personal Well-Being Act of 2007. This amendment to the Fair Labor Standards Act would guarantee that anyone who's worked at a job for a year would get three weeks of vacation. On the site, you can download a handbook and other resources for mobilizing around this goal.

This report explains the framework of place (economic, social, physical, and service environments) to understand the relationship between community conditions and health, analyzes the connections among all the environmental factors that contribute to a healthy community, and identifies environmental effects on community health.