Health

A new report shows New Hampshire is again among the healthiest states in the nation.

But health officials say there is still room for improvement.

The United Health Foundation’s report looked at a variety of health issues, including heart disease deaths, cancer rates, premature births and access to health insurance.

New Hampshire was ranked second healthiest, an improvement from third last year.

The state scored well because of its low percentage of children in poverty, low crime rate, and high use of prenatal care and immunizations.

Wal-Mart wants to be your doctor.

The nation's largest retailer is planning to offer medical services ranging from the management of diabetes to HIV infections, NPR and Kaiser Health News have learned.

Ever used one of those machines at the gym where you can place your hands on the grips and it'll track your heart rate? German scientists - probably the ones who spend a lot of time working out  - wondered if they could put those sensors in the steering wheel of a car to detect driver stress.

When the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended a half-dozen years ago that preteen girls be vaccinated against human papillomavirus, two things happened.

A lot of parents and some conservative groups were jarred by the idea of immunizing young girls against a sexually transmitted virus. And uptake of the vaccine has been poor — only about a third of 13- to 17-year-old girls have gotten the full three-shot series.

Today health reporter Elaine Grant shines a light on the epidemic itself, which is costing the U.S. more than $150 billion dollars a year in medical spending alone.  

When Jennifer Riccio was in college, she started gaining weight. “I couldn’t really figure out what I was doing differently. In my mind I didn’t really have any difference in eating, or exercise habits at that age.”

Mystified, she visited doctor after doctor.

It was the beginning of a 15-year journey to determine why she kept putting on pounds.

In 2002, Ken Jue found himself going to funeral after funeral. But at the time Jue wasn’t sure what was killing so many of his mental health patients.

Ten years ago, lots of people were asking the same questions as Ken Jue.

Why were people diagnosed with bi-polar disorder, schizophrenia and depression dying so early in life?

“I decided that I needed to look into this because it was just happening too frequently.”

John Rymes stands at the counter at BagelWorks in Concord, pondering what to eat for lunch.

 It’s not a simple decision.

 “I kinda have to look to see what I’ve burnt today. If I look at my diary, it’s only like 300 calories so I have to probably be a bit careful,” he says. “I have 1200 calories remaining for the day."

Rymes shows off his iPhone, on which he’s pulled up his favorite program -- a weight loss app called MyFitnessPal.

Being fit, though, is not his issue. He’s a triathlete – one of the best in the world at the half Ironman.