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Email ThisOne of my first impressions of Los Angeles was my shock that there was donut shop on every block. In the Valley there’s a strip mall with a retailer featuring donuts and fried chicken. . . I’ve often wondered what donuts from that shop taste like. . . I would hope they use a different vat for the chicken. . . This herd of donut stores surprised me because I thought California to be land of the granola-eating tree hugger; rather that stereotype is relegated to Northern California, while starvation diets and cosmetic surgery are all the rage in SoCal, to balance out the donut shops and cupcake bakeries.A new UCLA study links poor health outcomes with one’s proximity to fast and junk food retailers. The LATimes reports
Higher rates of diabetes and obesity occur in neighborhoods — regardless of the residents’ income, race or ethnicity — where fast-food restaurants and convenience stores greatly outnumber grocery stores and produce vendors, according to a statewide study released today.
It makes sense. . . when you’re hungry and have money to burn, you’re not going out of your way for a meal. You stick within walking distance at lunch or stay relatively local for dinner with friends. Thus, your options are limited by the restaurants and stores in your local vicinity. While you ultimately decide where you go, your options are limited by your geography.
Of the top 10 franchises of 2008 (per Entrepreneur.com’s 29th Annual Franchise ranking), should you be looking to invest:
#1 7-Eleven (30,642 franchises)
#2 Subway (29,929 franchises
#3 Dunkin’ Donuts (7376 franchises)
#4 Pizza Hut (9881 franchises)
#5 McDonalds (20,099 franchises)
#6 Sonic Drive In (2656 franchises)
#7 KFC (11,071 franchises)
#9 Domino’s (2073 franchises)
Eight of the top 10 recommended franchises are fast food restaurants. Think about YOUR neighborhood, can you go a block through a city and not find deep friend or foil-bagged options? It’s an incredible rarity.
In California, the researchers found that
Obesity rates were 20% higher in neighborhoods with five or more times as many fast-food outlets as produce vendors, compared with those with three or fewer, the study found.
While it is an individual’s responsibility to to decide what’s for breakfast, lunch, and dinner; it’s a community’s responsibility to maximize the availability of healthy options when approving new business licenses and developing new strip malls and local attractions.
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Interesting post, Andrea.
I do think society has some responsibility with this, but I’m not quite sure where we should draw the line.
Fast food places should not be banned, but people should have the same access to stores that sell healthy goods. The problem is that in many areas stores that sell fresh produce have been forced to close because people are still choosing fast food most of the time. So while I agree with your idea, I think the focus should be on education, which could help keep those stores in business!
Jaclyn,
There’s only room for so many retailers, and fast food franchises take up a lot of that space, particularly in urban areas. So communtiies are going to slowly have to take back the property for better use.
Philadelphia is working to begin installing healthy quick eats options
http://www.goodmagazine.com/section/Look/corner_store_cornucopia
I look forward to hearing about the outcome of the new bodega there.
The question is, which came first, the chicken or the egg?
Are people more obese because they live close to fast food places? Or are fast food places located where they are because they knew there was plenty of consumers in the area?