Obesity Affects New York’s Poorest Neighborhoods

A new study has some startling revelations about the obesity rate of New York City. There are large variations across the different neighborhoods but the poor ones are the most affected by obesity.

The study period was from 2003 to 2007 when the prevalence of obesity rose to 22 percent from 20 percent. In more affluent areas like the Upper East Side, Chelsea and the West Village obesity rates remained steady at 8 percent during the study period.

On the other hand, many lower income neighborhoods had to face a bigger obesity problem. When the study was started in 2003 only one neighborhood East Harlem had an obesity rate of more than 30 percent. But fast forward to 2007 and six more neighborhoods had joined the club with 3 being in Bronx, Bedford Stuyvesant of Brooklyn, Rockaway in Queens and the northern Staten Island.

The lead researcher on this project Dr. Jennifer L. Black of the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada state that understanding the neighborhood variations would help in fighting obesity.

She and colleague James Macinko of New York University found that certain neighborhood features like having more food stores and fitness centers did lead to a lower obesity rate in that area.

Dr. Black said that this didn’t prove that better food selection or gyms prevent obesity. But the study did prove that there are differences in the obesity between neighborhoods having different levels of access to food and fitness amenities.

The researchers state that it’s worth taking the neighborhood factors into account while looking for a solution to rising rate of obesity.

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