Wednesday, March 25, 2009

living near fast food may make you fatter!

UC Berkeley and Columbia did a study on how proximity to fast food affects the obesity rates of 3 million school children and one million pregnant women.
What they found is that ninth grade children having a fast food restaurant within a tenth of a mile from their school is associated with an increased rate of obesity of at least 5.2%!
The study also found that pregnant women living within a half mile of a fast food restaurant have a 2.5% increase in the probability of gaining over 44 pounds during pregnancy! (for an average weight woman, 25-35 pounds is healthy)

Incidentally, living or going to school near non-fast food restaurants was not associated with an obesity rate increase.

I also think it's humorous that it's being published by wine economists...

American Association of Wine Economists Paper No. 33
http://www.wine-economics.org/workingpapers/AAWE_WP33.pdf

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