Live close to a gym and you are more likely to stay slim
BRITONS who live near a gym or swimming pool are less likely to be fat, a study has found.
But they are more likely to pile on the pounds if they are close to fastfood takeaways.
Researchers found that living under a mile from a gym, swimming pool or playing field was linked to a smaller waistline, lower body mass index (BMI) and reduced fat percentage.
The study showed that living further away from a takeaway was also associated with reduced levels of obesity.
The report included data from UK Biobank for people aged 40 to 70 from around Britain from 2006 to 2010.
It included waist measurements from 401,917 people, BMI from 401,435 people and body fat percentages from 395,640 people.
Walking
The researchers accounted for demographics, socio-economic status and local area characteristics and looked at whether they varied by sex or household income.
Physical activity facilities included indoor and outdoor facilities for sports or leisure activities but not parks or cycling and walking paths.
A third of people had no physical activity facility within a mile.
The average distance to a fastfood shop was under a mile and nearly a fifth lived within half a mile of a takeaway.
People who had better access to physical activity facilities were less overweight, with at least six facilities nearby equating to a half-inch smaller waist circumference, a BMI that was 0.57 points lower and a body fat percentage that was 0.81 per cent smaller.
The effect was stronger among women and people from higher income backgrounds. Compared with people living less than half a mile from a takeaway, those up to two miles away had smaller waists and BMI.
Body fat percentage was also linked to proximity.
The association was mostly among women, who were less overweight the further they lived from fast food. Researchers suggest this could be because women spend more time in their neighbourhoods and are more exposed to takeaways.
Report author Kate Mason, who is studying for a PhD at London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, said: “Policy-makers should consider interventions aimed at tackling unhealthy-built environments. The results of our study suggest that increasing access to local physical activity facilities and, possibly, reducing access to fast food close to residential areas could reduce overweight and obesity.”
Senior study co-author Professor Steven Cummins, whose joint findings are published in The Lancet Public Health journal, added: “It would be important to make sure new physical activity facilities are affordable, especially when they are located in lower-income areas.”
He added: “The associations we observed were weaker for people from low-income households and this might be because they can’t afford to use many of these facilities.”