New data from the authors of Designed for Disease, the influential report that contributed to the Los Angeles fast-food moratorium, illustrates the health challenges associated with a high prevalence of fast food restaurants in neighborhoods. The results will be discussed at the following APHA presentation:
Monday, October 27, 2008
Local food environment associated with diet and obesity among California adults
Time: 9:15 a.m. Abstract # 178816
Venue: San Diego Convention Center, Meeting Room 7B
Among the findings:
- Fast food restaurants may suppress demand for healthy fare: Fruit and vegetable consumption is lower when there are more fast food restaurants than grocery stores in a neighborhood. People living in such neighborhoods are 15% less likely to get five servings of fruits and vegetables per day than adults living in neighborhoods with fewer fast food restaurants.
- More fast food = greater likelihood of obesity: People living in neighborhoods with more fast food restaurants than grocery stores are 18% more likely to be obese.
- Rich or poor, the trend is the same: Regardless of income or race, a high prevalence of fast food restaurants in a neighborhood was linked to obesity in that neighborhood's population.
Visit our booth # 1519 to learn more.
The UCLA Center for Health Policy Research (CHPR) is one of the nation’s leading health policy research centers and the premier source of health policy information for California. UCLA CHPR improves the public’s health through high quality, objective, and evidence-based research and data that informs effective policymaking. UCLA CHPR is the home of the California Health Interview Survey (CHIS) and is part of the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health and affiliated with the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs.