Globe and Mail health and nutrition columnist Leslie Beck today pointed to a link between walkable neighbourhoods and tangible health benefits. According to Beck:
“More than two million Canadians have diabetes, a number that’s expected to rise to three million by the end of this decade. (The vast majority of people with diabetes have Type 2.) Despite the epidemic of Type 2 diabetes, the disease is largely preventable though physical activity, healthy eating and controlling weight.
Observational studies have linked the increase in diabetes to changes in our environment. We rely on cars to take us – and our kids – everywhere. Many of us live in suburbs so spread out that biking or walking to work, school, or the grocery store isn’t an option.”
Beck goes on to mention several studies in the article, including one that found that:
“Residents of Salt Lake City who lived in neighbourhoods built before 1950 were leaner than people who lived in more modern communities. Older neighbourhoods were thought to protect from obesity because they were built with pedestrians – not cars – in mind. They had more trees, more sidewalks, more intersections, and offered a pleasant walking environment.”
“Such findings”, says Beck, “suggest it may be possible to halt and reverse the epidemics of obesity and Type 2 diabetes by modifying the environment in which we live.” Click here to read the full article. And thanks go out to Margaret for bringing the article to our attention.
