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Beaufort ranks as healthiest county in state

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We're too fat, smoke too much and don't get enough exercise.

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But Beaufort County still ranked as the "healthiest" county in the state in 2005, improving from No. 2 a year ago, the Healthy South Carolina Challenge announced this week.

The challenge ranked each of the state's 46 counties by their smoking rates, physical activity and body-mass index from information gathered from surveys administered by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Though rates of exercise and obesity in the county increased, the percentage of smokers declined significantly, from 30 percent in 2004 to 15 percent in 2005.

Jasper County also moved up in rankings, from 10th in 2004 to sixth last year. That was largely due to a significant drop in adult smoking rates.

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"The decline in smoking rates is a huge step, obviously, since there's not anything better you can do for your health than to quit smoking," said Meghan McGuire, director of the Healthy South Carolina Challenge, an initiative of S.C. first lady Jenny Sanford and the state Department of Health and Environmental Control.

"However, as you look at the increasing rates of physical inactivity and the rate of overweight people, it's not all positive news here," McGuire said.

Data for Beaufort County fall mostly in line with overall state numbers, which indicate that the number of overweight and inactive adults continues to rise despite the expansion of weight-loss programs like the South Carolina Shrinkdown. In that program, 25,315 state residents lost a combined 74,147 pounds earlier this year.

"Clearly, there are still real health problems that we have to address in our state and our nation," said Sanford on Thursday. "And the consequences are severe. We need to find more ways to eat well and be active and reduce smoking, or in the end, we'll all bear the cost."