Study links 'food environment' to diabetes, obesity

[AlCzervik]

<snip>
By Dorsey Griffith
Published 12:00 am PDT Tuesday, April 29, 2008

It's often said, "You are what you eat," but new research suggests that where you eat may have a lot to do with it, as well.

In communities with an abundance of fast-food outlets and convenience stores, researchers have found, obesity and diabetes rates are much higher than in areas where fresh fruit and vegetable markets and full-service grocery stores are easily accessible.

"The implications are really dramatic," said Harold Goldstein, a study author and executive director of the California Center for Public Health Advocacy, based in Davis. "We are living in a junk-food jungle, and not surprisingly, we are seeing rising rates of obesity and diabetes."

The new study builds on research released a year ago that found California has four times as many fast-food restaurants and convenience stores as grocery stores and produce vendors.

For the new project, Goldstein teamed with UCLA's Center for Public Health Policy Research and PolicyLink to explore possible links between the kinds of food Californians can easily access and the prevalence of obesity and diabetes in their communities.

The outcome: "We found a very strong link," Goldstein said. "It was true for people living in both high-income and low-income communities, regardless of race, ethnicity, age, gender or level of physical activity."

For the 2007 study, researchers used commercial data sources and geographic information system software to construct a "retail food environment index," or RFEI, by adding the number of convenience stores and fast-food outlets and dividing that sum by the number of supermarkets and produce vendors, including farmers markets.

The average RFEI for California adults is 4.5, meaning the average California adult has more than four times as many fast-food restaurants and convenience stores near their home as grocery stores and produce vendors.

They combined the RFEI with health data from a representative sample of 40,000 California residents.

"We took each survey respondent and drew a circle around their house, and asked, 'What is their retail food environment?' " said Goldstein.

More at link

[BlooInBloo]

1. I love studies that confirm the patently obvious.

[The Straight Story]

3. It's like having a study to see if people in GDP are more hostile than the lounge

:rofl:

[AlCzervik]

4. then it is your lucky day!

[BlooInBloo]

18. Breaking! People live longer in oxygenated atmospheres!

[no_hypocrisy]

2. High (corn) fructose syrup

It's in a myriad of food products, often not labeled distinctly. That causes the beginnings of Type II diabetes and it's addictive. The more you ingest it, you developed innate cravings for this additive.

[CTyankee]

5. I have banned it from my diet. But I have to read just about every label on foods to do so.

It takes me a while to do my food shopping as a result. Which is fine, it's worth it. I'm eating more fresh fruits and vegetables too, since you know what's in them (and it isn't high fructose corn syrup).

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

20. I'm taking a wonderful class

on preparing and serving healthy dishes. In the last class, the instructor showed us how to identify and collect wild greens to eat. Chickweed was one of them, and it tastes delicious! Plus it has properties to retard the formation of excess mucus--a boon during allergy season.

[AlCzervik]

21. That's great that you're doing that, and while i agree HFCS is a big problem i wish

people would also talk more about sodium as well. I don't think many people have a clue as too how bad too much sodium is and how is in their food. Sodium was a major problem for me.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

23. Oh, that is another good thing to bring up

So many products contain way too much salt. It helps if you were raised NOT adding salt during cooking, but only afterwards at the table. I've found that using garlic powder, or a garlic/parsley mix on foods makes the need for salt a lot less.

[mac2]

33. I had a friend who just poured on the salt before she even

tasted it. I don't cook with salt or pepper. People can add it later. A pinch in certain foods helps the taste.

[CTyankee]

24. I started lowering sodium quite consciously a couple of months ago.

Again, it is prepared foods where you find lots of it, so you're better off, once again, with fresh produce. I have a low sodium cookbook that gives recipes for BBQ sauce, steak sauce, even ketchup.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

29. Interested in the ketchup recipe

I'm looking for one that has cinnamon in it for the sweetener. Does your recipe have this?

[CTyankee]

35. I will look. n/t

[mac2]

32. Low salt items are hard to find even in organic food.

Many companies load in the spices to replace the salt. It tastes bad in the end.

We should have salt (Iodine) in our diet but not more than 1,500 mg a day for over 50 years old. People might be able to get off blood pressure medication if they used less salt. After you cut it out salt products overwhelm your taste buds.

[mr_hat]

26. Retard the Formation and Excess Mucus are

also excellent names for punk-rock bands.

Boon During isn't bad, either. Not as punky, probably.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

28. Hmmm

next time I pick some chickweed, I'll hold it to my ear to hear what it is singing.

[distantearlywarning]

9. I have banned this crap from my house as well.

But it's amazing the amount of work I had to do to accomplish that. It's literally in everything a person eats, from soup to bread to crackers to salad dressing.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

22. Here's a salad dressing you can make yourself

I like ranch style dressings, and they tend to have HFCS in them. So my instructor in my Healthy Cooking Class gave us this recipe:

1 spoonful unsweetened yogurt
1 spoonful Haines Safflower Oil Mayo (get at health food stores or make your own)
sprinkle of nutritional yeast
a few drops of soy sauce to taste

Mix ingredients together. Makes a lovely dip for raw veggies as well as a delicious dressing.

For those who like Italian style dressings, use balsamic vinegar and extra-virgin olive oil along with fresh basil and oregano, or more of the dried versions of these herbs.

[Scout]

30. i've been a sugar/processed carb addict since i was an infant....

when the doctor told my mother to put corn syrup in my formula, so i would eat!

i need to find a way to go off sugar entirely, but i can't really buy and cook all natural, unprocessed foods.

[Dreamer Tatum]

34. HFCS should be outlawed

It is more insidious than trans fats. It kills.

The alternative, good old cane sugar, is less destructive to the body by far.

[gaspee]

6. Hmmm

Four of the five states with the lowest obesity rates - and you would never guess it, but MA, CT, VT, RI are in the bottom five -- OK, I live in New England and I've given it some thought (especially at 2:am and no food in the house) and we really don't have that many fast food places in my city of 100,000 people. All over RI, it's not that easy to get your hands on fast food like it is in other places I've lived.

You really have to make an effort to go to them - we have little diners all over the places, but I can only think of 3 MickeyD's, a couple of Wendy's and one Taco Bell in my entire city.

It makes sense, I guess. When I lived in Jax FL, fast food was everywhere - like on every block.

Though, here we *DO* have Dunkin Donuts on every corner, LOL.

[mac2]

11. States like yours have made an effort to educate too.

Here in the MW they consume a lot of fast foods. It is almost the fast food capital of the US.

We have a lot of litter because of it too. I tried to get my town and state (IL) to post litter fines but no go. What's with that? In SC they have $500 fines for littering. Their towns and highways are clean.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

7. I've learned to take my own snacks when traveling

because all you can get if you drive the interstate is junk, junk, junk, it seems. Besides, it's cheaper to pack veggies and nuts and stuff. I even bring my own water in my own large container--much cheaper and you know what's in what you eat. No high fructose corn syrup and sugar for me, thank you.

Interesting point--both my husband and I have a history of Type II Diabetes in our families. I've always been heavy, and so have watched what I ate in that I tended not to eat junk food. My husband, skinny as a rail, drank soda pop and candy and all the junk, thinking he was ok, since he was thin. Wrong. He's been diagnosed with Type II Diabetes for four years now, and has had circulation problems and other complications. The moral of this story is that you don't have to be fat to become diabetic. It's important that EVERYONE watch what they eat.

[AlCzervik]

10. Diabetes runs rampant in my family, my Granpa was always thin but he was diabetic and his own

father--also thin died from complication from diabetes. We have so many ff places in my city but we also great produce at almost all of the supermarkets and the prices are generally pretty reasonable because it's local. I stopped eating ff in dec. of 2004 and i don't miss it a bit.

[mac2]

15. Type I is genetic...Type II may not be.

They are different type of Diabeties.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

19. Yes, I know

but if you know that someone close in your family got and died from Type II, it is wise, I think, to take that into account, especially when speaking with your doctor. My father died of it when he was 62. I made sure my MD knew of this, and she ran blood tests, etc. She determined that I have a minor glycemic problem which has been kept under control via diet and supplements. My father was grossly obese and drank alcohol as well as not eating the proper foods. I was determined from an early age not to follow in his footsteps.

[mac2]

16. I just don't understand why so many people have Type II

Diabeties. It's not just here. Is it the Depleted Uranium going around the world, etc.?

That wasn't true in my family in the past yet I have it. I was on HRT and hormones which gave me side effects. I also gained weight and had pains in my legs, etc. I bet ya that's it...the drugs we take and additives in our food.

Doctors just give pills without considering the side effects. There are alternatives for some.

[Scout]

31. HFCS is in everything n/t

[mac2]

8. Certain HRT medications can cause it too since there is

weight gain. That's why BHRT is better for women.

[Samurai_Writer]

12. I've seen this first-hand

I lived in Houston, TX for 26 years, and there is literally 2 or 3 fast food places on every corner. Houston is one of the 'fattest' cities in the US.

I moved to Boulder, CO about 2 1/2 years ago. Boulder is the 'fittest' city in America (for its population size). There were two McDonald's here... one shut down for lack of business. The Chili's went out of business, too. There are maybe 5 fast food places in the entire city of 100,000... and that includes the University area. There are very few chain restaurants at all -- most are local restaurants that serve organic fare.

I have culture shock every time I go to visit Houston now, from the miles and miles of fast food and chain restaurants, and from the size of the average Houstonian. In Boulder, I'm one of the largest people in the entire city. In Houston, I'm 'normal'.

[AlCzervik]

14. i used to live in Spring Texas and rte. 1960 was like restaurant row.

[CTyankee]

25. I was in Boulder for a conference once and I LOVED it!

If I were young and starting out Boulder wouldn't be a bad place to go at all! Fit attracts fit out there, so I guess what this study says would be true after all (altho it makes common sense too).

[CTyankee]

27. Go anywhere in Italy and, as an American, you feel fatter all of a sudden.

Sicily, too. But once you do the walking over there you realize why Italians are thinner.

My friend, a tall thin blonde who was maybe a size 8, had to tryon the largest size in the store when I went to a boutique near the Piazza Navona in Rome. The Romans are pretty tiny themselves, even compared to what I saw in other Italian cities.

It may be because Italians (in Rome and north of Rome) are serious about their sense of fashion. They have a "look" and I swear they must live in hovels to afford the clothes they put on their backs!

Yet food and wine are serious to them also. Those evening meals in ristorantes are lengthy to say the least (you won't get the check until you ask). They don't have huge servings tho. Freshness is a "must" in their cuisine however. The only food I couldn't handle was the tripe. The grappa was also something I couldn't choke down.

[xfm]

13. Hmm...

This shows why the rates are even higher in Black neighborhoods where these businesses are entrenched most often. So many factors go into motivating a person to make the right food choice, including environment. Like drugs, it's very hard for a person to stay clean if they are living in a drug den.

[mac2]

17. Just think how much money is spent on drugs.

The future could be more happy and healthy without them. It is like the Queen got the Chinese hooked on Opioum to control them. Bush, Inc. is doing it to our poverty areas to keep them down?

Of-course some of the rich do it too. But then they are excessive in many ways.

[NMDemDist2]

36. hubby and I have been up and down all night with reflux and heartburn

because we've eaten out the last three days. a meal at Chili's, a pizza delivered and Sonics for lunch yesterday.

that's the most we've eaten out in over a year and we're paying for it. I have all but banned HFCS from our diet and cook everything from scratch with lots of fresh fruit and veggies. our bodies are absolutely rebelling against the commercial crap we've eaten this week.

we're gonna do a juice and water fast today and I'll get back in the kitchen tomorrow

:puke: