According to a new study by the American College of Medicine entitled "Health and Community Fitness Status of the 50 Largest Metropolitan Areas", the Tampa Bay area ranks 40th out of America's 50 largest cities.

The study considers a number of beneficial and detrimental factors when equating the overall health and community fitness status of America's 50 largest cities.  The Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington area ranked first with an overall score of 78.2 out of 100.

The Tampa-St.Petersburg-Clearwater area ranked 40th with a score of 38.4.  A number of other Florida metropolitan areas made the list including the Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford area in 34th place with a score of 42.5; the Jacksonville area in 37th place with a score of 41.8; and the Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach area in 42nd place with a score of 38.4.

The study considered a number of factors when it comes to fitness and recreation in TampaSt Petersburg, and Clearwater.

When it comes to good qualities, the study praised a variety of "areas of excellence" at or better than a target goal in Tampa Bay including a healthy surplus of baseball diamonds, dog parks, park playgrounds, golf courses, recreation centers and more per capita.

According to the study, a number of improvement priority areas (worse than 20% of the study's target goal) are detrimental to overall health and quality of recreation in Tampa and beyond including a high percentage of current smokers, obesity, those with asthma and coronary heart disease, and a low percentage of farmers markets, public transportation use, city land areas and more.

What do you think?  Does the Tampa Bay area deserve the 40th spot?  Let us know in the comments below.