[H+T--Friends] Walkability & childhood obesity

Via Streetsblog, there is a new study examining factors influencing childhood obesity. One of the things examined was built environment and neighborhood. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the study found a strong connection between the walkability of child's neighborhood and the likelihood of obesity: Children who lived in walkable areas, with a child-friendly park nearby and access to healthy food had 59% lower odds of being obese. Kids that lived in car-dependent neighbourhoods with more fast food outlets had the highest levels of obesity (16%, which is the US average). But only 8% of children were obese in walkable areas with access to more healthy food. The article summarizing is here: http://walkonomics.com/blog/2012/04/how-your-post-code-is-as-important-as-y… And the study is here: http://www.seattlechildrens.org/Press-Releases/2012/Zip-Code-as-Important-a… Erik Weber United We Ride -- Office of Program Management Federal Transit Administration U.S. Department of Transportation 1200 New Jersey Ave, SE, E44-431 Washington, DC 20590 Ph: 202.366.0705 On the Web: www.unitedweride.gov<http://www.unitedweride.gov/> Follow the United We Ride National Resource Center: @NRCtrans<http://twitter.com/NRCtrans> www.fta.dot.gov<http://www.fta.dot.gov/> Follow FTA on Twitter: @FTA_DOT<http://twitter.com/FTA_DOT> P Please consider the environment before printing this email.