Part 1: Bibliographic Entry
Reiley, Laura. “What Parents Should Know about How Living near Fast-Food Outlets Could Affect Their Children.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 29 Oct. 2019, www.washingtonpost.com/business/2019/10/29/what-parents-should-know-about-how-living-near-fast-food-outlets-could-affect-their-kids/.
Reiley correlates the proximity of fast food restaurants. According to a recent study led by researchers at New York University School of Medicine and published Tuesday in the journal Obesity, access to fast food and grocery stores places children at greater risk of becoming overweight or obese. New York City public schools are attended by more than 1 million students. According to experts, how close they live to a fast-food restaurant will have a significant effect on their risk of being obese. The research team, headed by Brian Elbel, found that 20 % of children between 5 and 18 years of age living within a half-block of a fast-food outlet were obese and 38% were overweight. Schools in New York have tracked the height and weight of students since 2007. In order to correlate student addresses with their distance from fast-food chains, corner stores, sit-down restaurants, and grocery stores, all offering nutritious food and junk food, Elbel and his team used mapping tools and restaurant inspection data from the area.
Part 4: Reflection
The information that I gathered was very interesting. The author used research to back up her claims. I do agree with what she is saying about obesity because I use to be part of the obesity statistics. Although I am not overweight anymore I am still interested in this topic because I don’t want others to have serious health problems. Fortunately because of recent reform obesity rates in children have lowered, but we still need to focus on everyone else.
Part 5: Quotables
“Obesity rates for children have tripled since the 1970s, and experts say a drop of just a few percentage points could save thousands of children from diabetes, heart disease and other health problems.”
“But, Elbel said, government bears some responsibility to regulate.”
“The researchers used the inspection data to identify restaurants with counter service, including pizza, Chinese and any other kind of order-at-the-counter takeout.”
