Obesity and Fast Food Outlets

In an ongoing effort to address the obesity epidemic researchers are looking at factors that directly or indirectly have an impact on this phenomenon. The findings from a recent study conducted by researchers at Columbia University in New York City and the University of California- Berkeley should really not come as a surprise. They found that of the 3 million ninth-grade students attending schools in California and 1 million pregnant women in Michigan, New Jersey and Texas the factors that contributed largely to a more than 5% increased weight gain among school children and an increased likelihood of pregnant women gaining more than 44 pounds over the course of their pregnancy was the presence of a fast-food outlet within a certain proximity to school or residence. The presence of a fast-food restaurant within one-tenth of a mile distance from a school or residence had the greatest impact on weight gain. Having a restaurant within one half-mile from the pregnant woman’s home decreased the likelihood of a 44 pound weight gain by 2.5%.

Not only is the proximity of fast-food restaurants to schools associated with weight gain among school children, but it is also related to decreased consumption of fruits and vegetables and increased consumption of sodas (Currie et al, 2009).

Other areas in which fast food outlets may play a role in the increasing obesity epidemic are low income neighborhoods. There are usually more fast food outlets and convenience stores in these neighborhoods than grocery stores in which a variety of healthier food choices may be found, and at prices more reasonable than those of convenience stores.

It will take a lot of action by informed and concerned citizens at the community level to spearhead changes in the neighborhoods, but it is not an impossible dream or task. Others have successfully overcome numerous obstacles to enact these changes in their neighborhoods.