From News on Rednova

Story about a statistical study linking surburban low density community design to overweight population profiles. Posit is that surburban design inherently causes an upward trend in obesity. I wonder if in the details it is the mix of stores, car reliance, restaurants and the run the kids all over the place to their activites (thus eating on the run etc.) that are the variables in the average surburban community that lead to higher obesity.

HealthDayNews — Do sprawling communities translate into expanding waistlines? Absolutely, according to a new study that adds to a growing body of evidence that suburban living makes people fat.

A Boston University researcher found that people who live in spread-out communities are heavier than their city-bound counterparts.

"Everybody thought that by building suburban communities, people would live healthier, but people aren't," said study author Russ Lopez, adjunct assistant professor of environmental health.

By examining U.S. Census figures from 2000, Lopez created a formula that measures the level of sprawl in 330 metropolitan areas. Under the formula, communities received high ratings if people lived farther apart from each other. Rural areas were not included.