Trailer: A 5-minute clip that introduces the major themes of the series...

Health in America: The U.S. is one of the richest countries in the world, yet we rank 29th for life expectancy. We spent more than twice what other countries spend per capita on health care. Why aren't we healthier?

How the Growing Wealth Divide Is Bad for Health: In Michigan, as in other parts of the country, there's a growing chasm between the "haves" and the "have nots." As unemployed workers struggle to make ends meet and suffer declining health as a result, the wealthiest Americans are enjoying the spoils of our "winner-take-all" society.

Kim Anderson's Story: When Atlanta lawyer Kim Anderson was pregnant with her first child, she did everything right: she ate a healthy diet, exercised, and got the best prenatal care. But her baby was born almost three months premature. This excerpt from When the Bough Breaks explores racism's impact on pregnancy outcomes.

Living in Disadvantaged Neighborhoods is Bad for Your Health: Why is your street address such a good predictor of your health? Increasingly, Southeast Asian immigrants like Gwai Boonkeut are moving into neglected urban neighborhoods where African Americans have long suffered, and now their health is being eroded too. What can be done to create a neighborhood that promotes rather than destroys health?

Unraveling the Mystery of Black-White Differences in Infant Mortality: Neonatologists James Collins and Richard David specialize in the care of infants born too soon or too small. Their research on differences in birth outcomes between African American and white American women points to a provocative idea: the cumulative stress of racism is taking a toll on African American families even before they are born.

Richmond California Struggles for Clean Air: Community activist Torm Nompraseurt leads a "toxic tour" of Richmond, California where high levels of industrial pollution are wreaking havoc on the health and wellbeing of residents.

Residents of Louisville's Rubbertown Neighborhood Fight against Toxic Emissions: Eboni Cochran and her neighbors in Louisville have organized to demand that chemical companies in their area do a better job of monitoring and containing hazardous materials that seep into the soil and air. Across the country, polluting industries are concentrated in communities where the poor and people of color live.

How Unemployment Affects Families: Job loss doesn't just affect individuals. It impacts families and even whole communities. Stress, uncertainty, and lost income affect children in various ways.

How Racism Impacts Pregnancy Outcomes: UCLA obstetrician and gynecologist Dr. Michael Lu believes that for many women of color, racism over a life time, not just during the nine months of pregnancy, increases the risk of preterm delivery. To improve birth outcomes, Lu argues, we must address the conditions that impact women's health not just when they become pregnant but from childhood, adolescence and into adulthood.

A statement from the Executive Producer

It often appears that we Americans are obsessed with health. Media outlets trumpet the latest gene and drug discoveries, dietary supplements line shelf after shelf in the supermarket and a multi-billion dollar industry of magazines, videos and spas sells healthy "lifestyles." We spend more than twice what the average rich country spends per person on medical care.

Yet we have among the worst disease outcomes of any industrialized nation - and the greatest health inequities. It's not just the poor who are sick. Even the middle classes die, on average, almost three years sooner than the rich.

At every step down the socio-economic ladder, African Americans, Native Americans and Pacific Islanders often fare worse than their white counterparts. Interestingly, that’s not the case for most new groups of immigrants of color. Recent Latino immigrants, for example, though typically poorer than the average American, have better health. But the longer they live here, the more their health advantage erodes.

Our international health status has fallen radically in the last few decades. In 1980, we ranked 14th in life expectancy; by 2007, we had fallen to 29th. Our infant mortality rate lags behind 30 other countries. And illness now costs American business more than $1 trillion a year in lost productivity.

Healthy behaviors, molecular research, and of course, universal health care are all important. But evidence suggests they miss the most vital factor of all: how the social circumstances in which we are born, live and work can get under our skin and disrupt our biology as surely as germs and viruses.

We produced UNNATURAL CAUSES to draw attention to the root causes of health and illness and to help reframe the debate about health in America. Economic and racial inequality are not abstract concepts but hospitalize and kill even more people than cigarettes. The wages and benefits we're paid, the neighborhoods we live in, the schools we attend, our access to resources and even our tax policies are health issues every bit as critical as diet, smoking and exercise.

The unequal distribution of these social conditions - and their health consequences - are not natural or inevitable. They are the result of choices that we as a community, as states, and as a nation have made, and can make differently. Other nations already have, and they live longer, healthier lives as a result.

We hope that UNNATURAL CAUSES and its companion tools will help you work towards better health by bringing into view how economic justice, racial equality and caring communities may be the best medicines of all.

Larry Adelman
Executive Producer

Below is the video from The Today Show called "Is inequality making us sick?"

Watch the entire report. Tell me what you think.