Neighborhoods & Child Obesity

Picking the right place to live could make a big difference in your child's weight.

It turns out that certain things in your neighborhood, or more importantly, certain things that aren't there may be contributing to the obesity epidemic in children.
A new study, just published in the American Journal of Preventative Medicine, looked at which characteristics in neighborhoods were best at helping you help your child keep a healthy weight.

Researchers found that having a neighborhood that lent itself to a lot of physical activity as well as one near good food were the most important factors. In other words, having places to walk to, like stores or libraries can mean getting more exercise. So to can having what are known as "recreation areas", parks that children can play and run in on a regular basis.

On top of this having a neighborhood near supermarkets and stores with healthy food also meant having kids with lower weight. And just the opposite was true if kids lived near convenience stores instead of grocery stores.

So the next time you plan to move take a look around the new neighborhood and see if it's a place that might help you help you kids stay healthy.