Living near fast-food restaurants and convenience stores is not good for your health, and that's especially true in Fresno County, according to researchers.
Neighborhoods crowded with quick-food outlets have higher rates of people who are obese and have diabetes, according to a recent study that examined the correlation between the health of nearly 40,000 Californians and the food stores near their homes. Fresno County has the fifth-highest concentration of fast-food and convenience stores among the most populated counties in the state.
Fresno County officials were not surprised by the findings. They said it provides added support for their efforts to increase access to healthy foods.
"For many years we've been stressing that people are ultimately responsible for the choices they make, but that the environment we build around them affects the choices they make," said Dr. Edward Moreno, Fresno County's health officer.
People living in areas with lots of fast-food outlets were 23% more likely to have diabetes and 20% more likely to be obese than adults living in areas with relatively few fast-food restaurants and convenience stores, the study found.
And while living in lower-income communities is associated with higher rates of obesity and diabetes, the study found that regardless of income or ethnicity, the more quick-food outlets, the higher the rates of obesity and diabetes.
"Whether we realize it or not, the food options available in our communities influence our health," said Harold Goldstein, executive director of the California Center for Public Health Advocacy and one of the study's authors. "This junk food jungle that we're living in is an independent factor in contributing to the diabetes and obesity epidemic."
The study follows a 2007 report that found California has more than four times as many fast-food and convenience stores as grocery stores and produce vendors.
To determine the effect of food access on health for the latest study, researchers from the public health advocacy center, Policy Link and the UCLA Center for Health Policy looked at nearly 40,000 people who participated in a 2005 California Health Interview Survey. They matched the prevalence of obesity and diabetes with the ratio of fast-food and convenience stores to grocery and produce stores near their homes.
Fresno, San Bernardino, Stanislaus, Kern and Solano -- counties with more than five times the number of fast-food and convenience stores to grocery and produce outlets -- had higher rates of obesity and diabetes than counties with no more than three times the ratio of unhealthy food outlets to health options. Marin and Santa Cruz counties had the lowest rates of obesity and diabetes.
Edie Jessup, coordinator of the hunger and nutrition project at Fresno Metro Ministry, said "it's sad as usual that Fresno hits the top of the list -- it's one of the worst areas identified in the study."
But Jessup said a proposed change in zoning to clarify where farmers markets could be located in the city of Fresno would help improve access to healthier foods. Jessup and Moreno have been working with city officials to revise the zoning.
The proposal would allow farmers markets in residential zones instead of just commercial areas if they met certain conditions, said Sophia Pagoulatos, the city's interim planning manager. This would permit neighborhood churches, for example, to set up farmers markets, she said.
The zoning change, which will be heard by planning commissioners May 21, also would give a break to people locating farmers markets in the inner city. Permits typically cost $5,000 to $6,000, Pagoulotos said. "It would go down to $2,000 to $3,000."
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