They Say: Schools Near Fast Food Makes Fat Kids

Think your kids are OK as long as you keep them clear of KFC and Burger King? Guess again.

A new study says kids who attend schools within walking distance of a fast food restaurant are more likely to be obese. If they can see the golden arches, they can walk.

The study, which appears in the most recent issue of the American Journal of Public Health, looked at data from half a million kids in middle and high schools in California. It found students who attend schools  near fast food
restaurants eat fewer servings of vegetables and fruits, and drink far
more soft drink than students at schools not located near fast food
restaurants. By near, by the way, they mean within a kilometre of the school. They cite the restaurants serve as hangouts for the kids – and with hanging out comes eating.

Before you start Google mapping the Mickey D's and Wendy's in your
area to pick the best school, you might want to look at kids outside of California. The closest fast food restaurant is at least half an
hour from the local school in my hometown. And we've got plenty of fat kids in my
town. What we don't have much of? Sidewalks. Or kids who would have
reason to walk past a fast food restaurant, or walk at all for that
matter.

Living in the country might mean we're free of the fast
food menace, but the need to drive everywhere and the lack of parks and
playgrounds means we have a lot of sedentary children. But I dare not
move – because this study shows I'm screwed either way.

The free order of fries goes to someone who can find me somewhere my kid WON'T be influenced by crappy foods

Image: FastFoodHealth.org

Source: Reuters