For someone living in close proximity to fast food restaurants, it may be ridiculously difficult to resist their food. On the other hand, someone who lives close to their gym, must be easily able to visit it and lose some weight. We have been living with such notions all our life, but it may not be really true. A new study suggests that living close to fast food joint or gyms has nothing to do with your weight gain or gain loss!
Researchers at the Lund University in Sweden claim there is no correlation between obesity and how close you live to fast food restaurants or gyms. It has come as a shock since many other previous studies from other countries suggested that location and distance of restaurants and gyms from our house may act as major factors in adult obesity.
Kenta Okuyama, PhD student at Center for Primary Health Care Research at Lund University, said, "Our large-scale study in Sweden, using longitudinal national registry data of more than 1,5 million adults, did not find a statistically significant association between these two types of facilities and obesity,"
However, the researchers admitted that the kind of area we live in still plays a role in dictating our overall health, including obesity. For example, urban areas with educated and informed people might be aware of the consequences of obesity and may take preventive measures. While deprived regions with low-income level may suffer from high obesity cases.
"Although reducing fast food outlets or introducing physical activity facilities might in theory promote healthy eating and exercise, it may not be very effective in all countries and regions, because the contexts vary by its culture and lifestyle that may affect how often people utilize these facilities in their daily lives," said Kenta Okuyama.