In France, the proportion of overweight people varies according to urban context. Obesity is on the increase as one moves away from the central cities.
- Scientists are interested in the geography of obesity in France.
- The probability for a person to find themselves confronted with a situation of overweight is very closely linked to the precariousness of their living environment.
Obesity has multiple determinants, some of which are geographical, as revealed an original study published in the journal Social Science & Medicine.
Scientists from the Social Dynamics and Recomposition of Spaces Laboratory (LADYSS, CNRS/Paris 8 University/Panthéon Sorbonne University/Paris University/Paris Nanterre University), associated with the nutritional epidemiology research team (EREN-CRESS, INSERM/INRAE /CNAM/Sorbonne Paris Nord University), focused on the geography of obesity in France, using a multidisciplinary approach involving geographers, epidemiologists and doctors. The analysis focused on a sample of nearly 70,000 people residing in France and taking part in the Nutrinet-Santé* study.
Urban contexts
The survey reveals several lessons:
– The proportion of people in a situation of overweight varies according to the urban contexts, increasing as one moves away from the central cities.
– The probability for a person to find themselves confronted with a situation of overweight is very closely linked to the precariousness of their living environment. The residential environment is apprehended here on the scale of the district.
– This link is particularly strong in the suburbs of large urban areas, average in city centers and weak or non-existent in sparsely populated areas.
New perspectives in the fight against obesity
“The originality of this study, beyond showing variable levels of obesity according to the territories, is to estimate the influence of the urban context of residence on the relationship between the probability of being overweight and the level of precariousness of his neighborhood of residence”, explains the University of Paris 8.
This survey also opens up new perspectives in the fight against obesity: “it should indeed help urban planning and public health policies to identify and target places particularly at risk in order to combat the associated socio-spatial inequalities in health”, continues the faculty. real public health problem,obesity affects 17% of French adults, or about 7 million people.
* The NutriNet-Santé study is a public health study coordinated by the Nutritional Epidemiology Research Team (EREN-CRESS, Inserm/Inrae/Cnam/Sorbonne Paris Nord University) which includes more than 170,000 “Nutrinautes” and advancing research on the links between nutrition and health since 2009.
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