Kathleen (and all),
Figure 1 in the full journal article (
http://www.ajpmonline.org/webfiles/images/journals/amepre/AMEPRE_3373%5B3%5…)
breaks out the participants into 4 groups according to high/low physical
activity environment (PAE) and high/low nutrition environment (NE). The
figure seems to imply that low PAE children have higher incidence of
overweight and obesity than high PAE children regardless of NE designation,
though the authors do not specifically make any claims that walkability and
park access are more influential than healthy food access.
I expect the authors will have more papers examining the finer points of
the data, and that this first paper simply serves as an overview of a large
body of data that looks at the joint influence of nutrition and physical
activity environments -- most studies to date have only looked at one or
the other, which makes for cleaner analysis but leaves open the question of
how these two influences (as well as other factors such as SES) interact.
Full disclosure, I was a research associate on this study during the data
gathering phase. I have since picked up a couple degrees and joined another
organization though, so I don't have any first hand knowledge of the
analysis since.
--
Jennifer So Godzeno, MSUP, MPH
Pedestrian Advocacy Manager
Transportation Alternatives <http://www.transalt.org/> | 127 West 26th
Street, Suite 1002 | New York, NY 10001
jennifer(a)transalt.org | (646) 873-6026
[image: T.A. StreetBeat] <http://transalt.org/>
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T.A. on Facebook!] <http://facebook.com/transportationalternatives> [image:
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On Thu, Apr 12, 2012 at 8:29 AM, Kathleen Bergeron <kabergeron(a)earthlink.net
wrote:
Erik, doesn't adding the nutrition aspect negate
the findings as far as
the benefits of walking? I mean, wouldn't it be better to simply have the
walkable area with a park nearby versus car-dependent location as
determining factors? I mean, carrying this to the ridiculous, it would be
like saying baseball players who walked a lot and also took steroids hit
more home runs than baseball players who drove their cars all the time and
took no steroids; thus, walking means you can hit more home runs. It just
seems that the "other" aspect negates the impact of the former.
Kathleen Bergeron
-----Original Message-----
From: erik.weber(a)dot.gov
Sent: Apr 11, 2012 1:34 PM
To: H+T--Friends(a)chrispy.net
Subject: [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****
Follow the United We Ride National Resource Center:****
@NRCtrans <http://twitter.com/NRCtrans>****
** **
www.fta.dot.gov****
Follow FTA on Twitter:****
@FTA_DOT <http://twitter.com/FTA_DOT>
P Please consider the environment before printing this email.****
** **
** **
Kathleen A. Bergeron
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