When Car-free Means Eating More Fast Food
September 2, 2009 by Peggy Rowland
Filed under Women's Health
You’d think that people without cars would weigh less since they walk more. That may be the case, except when people without cars also live near a high concentration of fast food restaurants.
It seems that not having a car could make it more difficult to get to healthy food. The healthier food may be located too far away, or may be out of budget. That could mean walking to a nearby fast food restaurant for an easy meal solution.
A new study from the University of Pittsburgh found that people who don’t own a car and live near fast food are at greater risk for obesity. The study, funded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, was published in the September issue of the Journal of Urban Health. Real the full fast food study online in PDF form. It was based in Los Angeles County with 2,156 adults in 63 neighborhoods participating.
Researcher findings are interesting:
- On average, car owners weighed 8.5 pounds more than non-car owners except in areas with high fast food concentration (five restaurants per mile).
- Non-car owners in areas with a high concentration of fast food weighed 2.7 pounds more than car owners in the same areas.
- Non-car owners weighed 12 pounds more than residents of areas without fast food.
- Car-free people in areas lacking fast food weighed the least.
Do you believe it’s possible to find healthy food at a fast food restaurant?
(Image via MorgueFile)
