A massive study finds obesity rising faster in rural areas than cities, highlighting the need for solutions to both.
By William Wan William Wan National correspondent covering health, science and news Email Bio Follow May 8 at 1:00 PM As the rate of obesity around the world has climbed steadily for decades, public health efforts to combat it have largely focused on people in cities. With growing numbers of people living in cities, the assumption by public health officials was that urbanization — with its sedentary lifestyle and easy access to highly processed foods — was driving much of the weight gain.
Instead of focusing mostly on city-specific programs — such as building bike lanes to encourage exercise or trying to get more fresh produce into urban areas — rural solutions are needed as well, health researchers say. Development in rural areas has improved the quality of life dramatically, but it has also changed people’s bodies.
The sprawling nature of rural areas makes it harder and more costly to implement public health interventions that work in cities, and the efforts are often complicated by lack of basic infrastructure. The answer to the world’s growing obesity problem will almost certainly mean figuring out how to reduce consumption of junk food in lower- and middle-income countries.
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