HOW HEALTHY ARE HAWAIIANS TODAY?
Before western contact, Kanaka Maoli, or native Hawaiians were the picture of robust health.
That health profile continued even after western contact until the illegal overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom government by the US and the imposition of low wages and a sugar-filled western diet.
Today Hawaiians suffer the worst health profile in Hawai`i.
While rates of death from heart disease, cancer, stroke and diabetes have decreased for non-Hawaiians, they have increased, sometimes dramatically, for Hawaiians.
Below 1 year of age, Hawaiian death rate is more than double the overall official average.
Between 1 and 4 years of age, it is triple the official figure, and so on into adulthood.
Just under 20 percent of the population, Hawaiians suffer 75 percent of the deaths for persons less than 18 years of age.
