Research
Adherence
A higher ratio of fast-food restaurants to full-service restaurants in one's local food environment is positively associated with an increased risk of obesity.
If you live in an area with many fast-food places but few sit-down restaurants, your risk of obesity is higher. This isn't just about your choices; it's about what is easily available to you. Look for neighborhoods with a better mix of food options, or be aware that your local food environment may be working against your health goals.
GoodSupportsHIGH confidence
The ratios of fast-food to full-service restaurants and of bars/pubs to liquor stores were positively associated with obesity (OR = 1.05 [CI: 1.02-1.09] and OR = 1.08 [CI: 1.04-1.13], respectively).
Why this rating
Large sample size (n=8,076), multi-city, adjusted for confounders, but cross-sectional design limits causal inference.
Source
The Local Food Environment and Obesity: Evidence from Three Cities
Blake Byron Walker et al. · Obesity · 2019
DOI 10.1002/oby.22614
cross_sectional · n=8076Cited 61×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
More from this paper
- A higher ratio of bars/pubs to liquor stores in one's local food environment is positively associated with an increased risk of obesity and abdominal obesity.Good
- The presence of markets (grocery stores) in one's local food environment is negatively associated with obesity and abdominal obesity, although this association may not be significant when accounting for city-level clustering.Moderate
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