Inhabitants of the Northern Netherlands who have fast-food restaurants within a kilometer around their house are on average slightly heavier than those who did not have any fast-food outlet in their area.
This is the outcome of a study of Carel-Peter van Erpecum. Van Erpecum is pursuing a PhD at the University Medical Center Groningen and is currently working at Erasmus School of Economics.
Van Erpecum, who is now affiliated to the department of Applied Economics thanks to a grant from the Erasmus Initiative Vital Cities for Vital Citizens, noticed that people who live near a fast-food restaurant are slightly heavier.
‘In a large-scale population study in the Northern Netherlands in which more than 140,000 adults participate, we looked at the weight and height of the participants,' explains Van Erpecum.
‘Based on an anonymous linkage, we could also see for each participant how many fast-food restaurants were present within a radius of one kilometer around the home address.'
Results of the study
According to Carel-Peter, the weight difference is small, a few hundred grams per person: ‘For an individual that is negligible, but if an entire neighborhood is affected, it might be important after all.' Van Erpecum emphasises that it’s really a correlation (statistical cohesion). In other words, the results of the study do not necessarily mean that fast-food outlets in the living environment cause a higher weight.
Project about the health impacts of 30km/hour speed limits
Carel-Peter van Erpecum collaborates currently in a project to improve the understanding on the health impacts of 30km/hour speed limits, and the importance of different components in the implementation of such a policy. Such understanding is urgently needed considering the growing movement of European cities implementing these speed limits.
- More information
For more information, please contact Ronald de Groot, Media and Public Relations Officer at Erasmus School of Economics: rdegroot@ese.eur.nl, mobile phone: +31 6 53641 846.
