Our neighbourhood might just play a critical role in our child’s health

A new study has shown a significant correlation between where we raise our children and their weight.

Scientists at the University of the West of England have found added evidence that shows our neighbourhood can have a significant effect, but for one particular reason. The study picked up on the association between having access to fast food diners or restaurants, and increased weight gain in children. Research was carried out by analysing the weight of 1500 primary school students, aged four to five and 10 to 11. According to the Daily Mail, one of the lead researchers Matthew Pearce said,

“Understanding the reasons for this is important to protect the future health of children. Obesity is driven by many factors.” “We know from national data the number of children classified as obese doubles between the first and last year of primary school.”

But avoiding fast food is no easy feat. Researchers looked at what they named a 'fast food accessibility score’, measuring the number of fast food outlets within the distance of 0.6 miles of road nearing each child’s home. They found a higher number of fast food outlets in poorer neighbourhoods compared to that of wealthier ones, and those that lived nearer to these fast-food chains gained a significant amount of weight during their first and last year of school. The study’s co-author Dr Issy Bray said,

“While our study tried to control for other factors that might influence a child’s weight, at this stage we can only say there is a relationship.” “It may be the association is due to other aspects of these neighbourhoods, such as cycling and walking infrastructure.”