Does Sprawl Cause Obesity? Maybe Not

Posted by: Nate Berg

12 December 2006 - 7:00am

A new study released by a University of Toronto researcher suggests that sprawl is not necessarily the cause of the obesity widely reported to exist in sprawling areas, but rather obese people may simply be attracted to sprawl.

University of Toronto economist Matthew Turner, who has released a study arguing against the link between sprawl and obesity, "acknowledges that in the last three years, roughly a dozen studies have taken statistical snapshots of where people live and how heavy they are--most reporting that people who live in sprawling neighborhoods tend, on average, to be fatter."

"'It's widely observed that people are heavier in sprawling neighborhoods than in non-sprawling neighborhoods,' Turner says. But, he adds, it doesn't mean the sprawl is to blame."

"He points out (as do, for that matter, the authors of these earlier studies) that the studies can't prove that living amid sprawl leads to obesity because they are just snapshots and don't report changes over time."

"'There are two possible explanations,' he says. 'One is that sprawling neighborhoods cause people to be heavy. The other is that people who are predisposed to be heavy are attracted to sprawling neighborhoods.'"

Full Story: New study questions link between home, waistline

Source: The Chicago Tribune, December 10, 2006

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Sprawl and obesity?

Submitted by Claire Bozic on Thu, 12/14/2006 - 08:43.

I don't understand why these studies only compare suburban and urban residents. Rural areas are neglected, and rural areas are also auto dependent and have even fewer parks, shopping, and schools within walking distance than suburban areas. If the development patterns cause the increased obesity rates, we might expect to see obesity rates increase as walkable destinations decrease. That should mean that rural residents have the highest rates of obesity of all.

How about some other ideas? Maybe suburban residents have to commute farther to work, leaving less time for shopping and meal preparation. Combined with higher incomes this leads to more use of pre-prepared meals that are higher if fat and sugar?

Maybe people who move to the suburbs are generally more fearful of letting their children roam the neighborhoods and keep them home and entertained with television and video games?