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If you care for your children to eat healthy, exercise and avoid obesity, attention to where you live.
A special issue of American Journal of Preventive Medicine released Tuesday contains six studies that rely on geographic mapping data to show how the health impacts of localization.
Two studies have focused on the neighborhood attributes to determine how the different features - the availability of parks and quality supermarkets, for example - affects obesity. They found a significant effect :. The children who could walk into schools and libraries and find healthy food in supermarkets nearby were 59% less likely to be obese than children whose districts did not allow
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"We must think about the neighborhoods where children living environments in terms of nutrition and in terms of physical activity environments, and we need to improve, "said Brian Saelens, lead author of one of the neighborhood attributes studies and a professor of pediatrics and researcher at the children's research Institute in Seattle at the University of Washington.
systemsAll six studies used computerized geographic information (GIS), which manipulate geospatial data to reflect visual representations the real world. Study reveals urban and suburban children get the largest proportion of daily physical activity on the way to school - walking, for example, or the bicycle. Children in rural areas, on the other hand, probably facing a ride to school via school bus or car, are more active at school. Another study analyzed the effect of the availability of fast food on teenagers, finding that adolescents in rural areas chose fast food more when these restaurants were nearby. Accessibility is not as much of a draw for their counterparts in the cities, which were apparently more choices.
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GIS is an even application development, but the Foundation Robert Wood Johnson notes that it has potential to help researchers understand the physical environment affects health mode. The technique has helped shine a light on the interaction between obesity rates and neighborhood characteristics in the study Saelens. In King County, Wash. - Where is Seattle -. And San Diego County, California, the researchers selected specific neighborhoods that differ in important environmental factors. In some neighborhoods, residents could walk from their homes to libraries, schools, restaurants and parks; in others, this was not an option. They also discussed access to supermarkets and fast food restaurants.
They contacted families with children aged 6 to 12 years in neighborhoods and measure the height and weight of children and one parent, usually the mother. They also collected demographic information such as income, age, education, which are known to influence obesity rates. However, after taking into account various demographic variables and control for parental BMI - also known to have an impact on the probability of child obesity - they found that children living in high ranked neighborhoods in physical activity and "environments" nutritional had half of child obesity rates in neighborhoods that have achieved low in both areas. These children without easy access to parks, schools, or healthy foods had an obesity rate of 16% and their parents had a rate of 28% compared to 8% for children and 20% for parents who lived supermarkets nearby and could walk back to school. for adults, the estimate is one in three.
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Saelens was part a team that worked on the recommendations for the prevention of obesity in the US Centers for Disease Control and prevention. The guidelines include increasing access to nutritious foods in communities, especially in low-income neighborhoods. Focus more on the prevention of obesity requires some modifications which could include the imposition of soda and other foods from junk food and subsidize healthy choices. It is an uphill battle, recognizes Saelens. "But the alternative is that we continue to assume individuals are responsible food choices and activity they do," he said. "There is an individual responsibility, but if you put someone in an environment where there are not many good choices, so do not expect them to make better choices. "
the research could also be a comment on the bent of America for life in the suburbs. "in the uS, we struggle with the density," said Saelens. "We want to be able to walk to places, but we also want a large yard. We are potentially jeopardize the health of our children make that "
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