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Car Travel Coincides with Obesity, Study Finds

by Lee Bains on December 17, 2008 at 07:35 AM



Depending on a car for transportation makes one more vulnerable to obesity, according to an article the Wired Blog found in the Journal of Physical Activity and Health.

The study, conducted by University of Tennessee's David Bassett and Rutgers University's John Pucher, focused on transit and obesity figures in developed countries and determined, "Active transportation is inversely related to obesity in these countries." By the study's definition, 'active transportation' includes walking, bicycling and riding public transit.

The United States, for instance, leads the pack in obesity with 25 to 33-percent of the population being obese, and brings up the rear in the use of 'active transportation' with only 12-percent percent of the population walking, biking or riding to make their ways around. These sorts of figures are common to the 'New World' countries; 19-percent of Canadians use active transportation while 23-percent are obese, and 14-percent of Australians use active transportation while 21-percent are obese.



European countries, though, are on the other end of things; only 9-percent of Swedes are obese while a whopping 62-percent of them use active transportation, and a mere 11-percent of the Dutch are obese while 52-percent of them use active transportation.

Although Bassett and Pucher do not come right out and offer their explanation as to why North Americans and Australians are so much more married to their vehicles than Europeans, we're pretty sure that it's a simple question of geography. Not only are New World cities typically more sprawling, but the countries themselves are significantly larger than their European counterparts.

And, if U.S. cities want to compete, we're really going to have to work on our sidewalk systems. We think anybody would prefer taking a bike trip over the Thames in London to hopping over a culvert in suburban Atlanta.
[From: Wired Blog]

Tags: health, obesity, obvious, research, safety, study, top, weight loss, WeightLoss

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