Fast-food restaurants cluster around schools, USA

[HuckleB]

Fast-food restaurants cluster around schools, USA

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/medicalnews.php?newsid=29760

"Fast-food restaurants are concentrated within a short walking distance of schools, exposing children to “poor quality food environments” on a daily basis.

According to a study of fast-food restaurants in the Chicago area, the median distance of any school from a fast-food restaurant was .52 km or about a third of a mile, a distance an adult can walk easily in five minutes. Almost 80 percent of schools had at least one fast-food restaurant within 800 meters, or less than a half mile.

Fast-food restaurants were statistically significantly clustered in areas within a short walking distance from schools, with an estimated 3 to 4 times as many fast-food restaurants within 1.5 km from schools than would be expected if the restaurants were distributed throughout the city in a way unrelated to school locations.

Last year, the Institute of Medicine called on the food industry to voluntarily restrict advertising of unhealthy food to children. The study's authors also point to possible school policies prohibiting off-campus fast food from being brought to school and zoning requirements to limit restaurants' proximity to schools as ways to combat rising obesity rates among children.

..."



Hmm. No wonder the soda companies don't much care if their machines are in the schools. They've still got things covered before and after school, and during lunch time for those schools that allow kids off campus.

[classics]

1. This is medical news?

Sad.

[HuckleB]

2. How is it not medical news?

:shrug:

[HuckleB]

3. Good morning.