Research

Adherence

Living in an area with a high ratio of fast-food and convenience stores to grocery stores (high RFEI) within 800 meters of one's home is associated with significantly higher odds of obesity in adults.

If you live in an area with many fast-food and convenience stores but few grocery stores, your risk of obesity is higher. To counter this, prioritize grocery shopping at stores further away if necessary, or focus on finding healthier options within your immediate vicinity. Policy changes like zoning laws can help improve local food environments.

ModerateSupportsMEDIUM confidence
The odds of a resident being obese were significantly lower (OR = 0.75, 95%CI 0.59 – 0.95) if they lived in an area with the lowest RFEI (below 3.0) in comparison to the highest RFEI (5.0 and above).
John C. Spence et al. · BMC Public Health · 2009

Why this rating

Large sample size (N=2900) and objective geographic data, but limited by cross-sectional design and self-reported height/weight.

Source

Relation between local food environments and obesity among adults

John C. Spence et al. · BMC Public Health · 2009

DOI 10.1186/1471-2458-9-192

cross_sectional · n=2900Cited 219×
Read the paper
DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10

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