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Fast Food Restaurants are A Public Health Risk
I wrote back in January about a study performed by researchers at the University of Pennsylvania. They looked at census data for the entire United States and correlated the number and types of restaurants with the Body Mass Index of the people who live in the area, and concluded that those people who lived in areas with more fast food restaurants than full-service restaurants tended to weigh more.
The researchers at the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research have taken this type of study a step further (Designed for Disease: The Link Between Local Food Environments and Obesity and
Diabetes, CA Center for Public Health Advocacy et al. April 2008). They correlated income and census data for the state of California with the results of a large-scale telephone survey which asked about weight status and specific health issues. This information was further correlated with a geographic survey of California which showed the physical location of fast food restaurants, convenience stores (such as 7-11), grocery stores and produce vendors (including farmers' markets).
For the purposes of the study, the researchers decided that for those living in urban areas, less than 1/2 mile from a respondent's home would be considered "near" their home. For those in suburban areas and smaller cities, that distance was increased to 1 mile, and for rural areas that distance was 5 miles.
The results are rather disturbing: the average California adult has more than four times as many fast food restaurants and convenience stores near their home than they do grocery stores and produce vendors. What's really shocking is that 28% of Californians have NO grocery stores or produce vendors near their home. NONE.
But it gets worse: nearly 25% of those people with�five�times as many fast food restaurants and convenience stores than grocery stores near their home are obese. Yet this was true for only 20% of those with only�three�times as many fast food joints than grocery stores. A higher ratio of fast food restaurants than grocery stores also meant a higher number of people with diabetes. The numbers are even more extreme in lower income communities, where people are less likely to own cars or have access to reliable transportation so that they can get to the grocery stores that tend to be outside their communities.
What this means for you
It's one thing to say that you can't eat healthy because it costs more to purchase fresh food (not true), but it's a whole different story when the only foods that are available for you to buy are those that are bad for you. Look around your community: how many places are there where you can buy fresh, healthy food? What if you didn't have a car? Would it be convenient to get to a grocery store where you live without one?
Here are just two of the recommendations from this report that your local or state government could put into effect: change the zoning laws to minimize the number of fast food restaurants in areas where there are already too many, and require that all restaurants provide their customers with the nutritional content of their foods - either on the overhead menu board or on the hand-held menus.