Green Options » active transportation http://greenoptions.com/tag/active-transportation Posts tagged 'active transportation' Thu, 01 Jan 2009 20:04:37 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5.1 en Cars Make Us Fat http://ecolocalizer.com/2009/01/01/cars-make-us-fat/ http://ecolocalizer.com/2009/01/01/cars-make-us-fat/#comments Thu, 01 Jan 2009 20:04:37 +0000 Rhonda Winter http://ecolocalizer.com/2009/01/01/cars-make-us-fat/ Cars Make Us FatA recent study published in the Journal of Physical Activity and Health found a strong correlational link between “active transportation” (defined as the percentage of trips taken by walking, bicycling, and public transit) and obesity rates in seventeen industrialized nations.  It appears that the more we sit on our butts and drive automobiles, the fatter we all become.

David Bassett of the University of Texas and John Pucher of Rutgers University present their findings in “Walking, Cycling and Obesity Rates in Europe, North America and Australia”; they conclude that “Countries with the highest levels of active transportation generally had the lowest obesity rates. Walking and biking are far more common in European countries than in the United States, Australia and Canada. Active transportation is inversely related to obesity rates in these countries.” Nowhere is this more apparent than in the United States, where less than 12% of the population walks, rides a bike or takes mass transit, and one in three of us is obese.

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