Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Living near fast food joints may not up weight

Adults who live close to fast food restaurants may not weigh any more than the rest of us, a new study suggests.

The findings, from a 30-year study of Massachusetts adults, add to a conflicting body of research. A number of studies have suggested that people living in fast food-heavy neighborhoods have a higher rate of obesity, while a few have failed to find a link.

But most of those studies have had limitations -- like only studying people at one time point, making it impossible to tease out whether easy access to fast food could be blamed for the extra pounds.

In this latest study, researchers used data from more than 3,100 adults who entered a heart-health study back in 1971. And they found no consistent relationship between participants' driving distance to fast food joints and their weight over the next 30 years.

There was some evidence of a link among women. On average, for each kilometer (0.6 miles) women lived from the nearest fast food place, they showed a slightly lower body mass index (BMI).

The translation: A woman of average height would weigh about a pound less for every additional kilometer she lived away from a fast food place.

Read more

No comments:

Post a Comment