WASHINGTON, May 31 (Xinhuanet) -- A new study has found that those who reside in sprawling neighborhoods where they must drive to getanywhere are more likely to be obese than those who can easily walk to their destinations.
The study of nearly 11,000 people in Atlanta, the United States,is the first to directly demonstrate the long-suspected link between suburban sprawl and obesity on a neighborhood level, The Washington Post said Monday in a report.
It found that people living in highly residential areas tend to weigh significantly more than those in places where homes and businesses are close together.
The effect appeared to be largely the result of the amount of time people spend driving or working. Each hour spent in a car wasassociated with a 6 percent increase in the likelihood of obesity and each half-mile walked per day reduced those odds by nearly 5 percent, the study showed.
"These findings are clearly the strongest evidence to date thatthere's a link between the built environment and obesity," Lawrence D. Frank, an associate professor of community and regional planning at the University of British Columbia who lead the study, was quoted as saying.
Frank said the findings, to be published in the June issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, have national implications because the neighborhoods studied are representative across the country. Enditem