Safe Neighborhoods Keep Kids Leaner

[Thom Little]

The safety of a neighborhood appears to impact childhood obesity.

University of Michigan researchers using a national study found that kids who live in neighborhoods considered unsafe by their parents were more likely to be overweight than kids who live in what their parents considered to be safe neighborhoods.

This is probably because parents in unsafe areas are keeping their children inside, the researchers said. While that may decrease the chance of a child encountering a stray bullet or witnessing a drug deal, it increases sedentary behavior, which contributes to weight gain.

"We believe it may be because parents who perceive their neighborhoods as unsafe do not allow their children to play outside as much, and when children do not play outside as much, they do not get as much exercise," said study author Dr. Julie Lumeng, an assistant professor of pediatrics in the division of child behavioral health at C.S. Mott Children's Hospital at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.



http://www.healthday.com/view.cfm?id=529954

[soothsayer]

1. The Popsicle Index:The% of people in a community who think a

10 year old girl can walk down the street to the neighborhood store, buy a popsicle, and return safely. Catherine Austin Fitts (a 'recovering Republican'---she was assistant undersecretary of housing under Bush the elder,and said his admin was full of crooks, but nothing like the current doozies!--but has seen the light) talks about here: http://www.ratical.org/co-globalize/popsicleIdx.html

Sounds like low Popsicle Index = obesity. Interesting.