Walkable Neighborhoods Keep the Pounds Off

By Steven Reinberg
HealthDay Reporter
Tuesday, July 29, 2008; 3:00 PM

Copyright © 2008 ScoutNews, LLC. All rights reserved.

TUESDAY, July 29 (HealthDay News) -- Older, more feet-friendly neighborhoods can help keep waistlines trim, U.S. researchers report.

"We were excited to find that two easily available census measures of diverse destinations -- living in an older neighborhood and higher proportion of residents who walk to work -- both predict lower weight," said lead researcher Barbara Brown, a professor of family and consumer studies at the University of Utah.

"Older neighborhoods often have a pattern of design features like narrow streets, tree-shaded sidewalks, and useful destinations like corner stores, that make walking interesting, pleasant and useful," Brown said.

The report was published in the September issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.

For the study, Brown's team collected data on almost 454,000 people living in Salt Lake County, Utah. Based on height and weight data from the participants' drivers' licenses, the researchers calculated the body-mass index of these individuals.

They found that neighborhood type did seem to be correlated to body weight. For example, a man of average size -- 6 feet tall weighing 200 pounds -- weighed 10 pounds less if he lived in an older, more walkable neighborhood. A woman of average size -- 5'5" tall weighing 149 pounds -- was six pounds lighter if she lived in a similar area versus a newer, less pedestrian-friendly locale.

Fewer than 3 percent of U.S. residents do report that they walk to work, Brown said. "Although we did not measure walking directly, it would make sense that residents walk more in neighborhoods designed with more walkability, thus lowering their risks of obesity," she said.

By 2030, about half the built space needed in the United States will have been built or renovated since 2000, the study authors noted. That means there's a real opportunity to think about redesigning neighborhoods to achieve healthier (and cost-saving) goals for residents, Brown said.

"Already, people are thinking about walking or biking or walking to transit more due to the cost of gas," Brown said. "Our study suggests you can achieve multiple goals of residents by designing walkable neighborhoods. Residents could enjoy less dependence on their cars, less impact on their wallets, and greater health benefits if they can walk to more destinations," she said.