Study Says "Urban Sprawl" Is Bad for Your Health
Can Living in the Suburbs Make You Fat? Well, it might increase your risk of being overweight or obese.
Researcher Ross Lopez at Boston University School of Health used data from a telephone survey of 184,450 persons who answered the 2000 Behavioral Risk Factor Survey. About 30% of them lived in what his study calls 330 different "urban sprawl" areas. These are defined as residential areas with houses on large lots near a city.
The suburbanites had an increased risk for being overweight and an even greater one for obesity. Men, Hispanics, blacks, low income persons, less educated and older people had more risk for overweight and obesity in this study as well as in other ones.
Lopez believes that urban sprawl contributes to being overweight because suburbanites get too dependent on their automobiles and do not walk as much as city dwellers. This study appears in the December 2004 issues of the American Journal of Public Health.
Researcher Ross Lopez at Boston University School of Health used data from a telephone survey of 184,450 persons who answered the 2000 Behavioral Risk Factor Survey. About 30% of them lived in what his study calls 330 different "urban sprawl" areas. These are defined as residential areas with houses on large lots near a city.
The suburbanites had an increased risk for being overweight and an even greater one for obesity. Men, Hispanics, blacks, low income persons, less educated and older people had more risk for overweight and obesity in this study as well as in other ones.
Lopez believes that urban sprawl contributes to being overweight because suburbanites get too dependent on their automobiles and do not walk as much as city dwellers. This study appears in the December 2004 issues of the American Journal of Public Health.
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