A University of Michigan study find that neighborhoods with more fast food restaurants have higher rates of stroke. Taking into account demographic and socioeconomic factors, the study found that:
- Residents of neighborhoods with the highest number of fast-food restaurants had a 13 percent higher relative risk of suffering ischemic strokes than those living in areas with the lowest numbers of restaurants.
- The relative risk of stroke increased 1 percent for each fast-food restaurant in a neighborhood.
March 6th, 2009 at 10:34 am
A local authority in London is trying to ban new fast food restaurants within a certain distance of schools and play areas.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2008/oct/21/child-obesity-takeaway-ban
Other authorities are watching with interest, as it will probably be thrown out by a legal challenge brought by KFC and McDonalds wishing to send people to an early grave so their profits can be sucked out to the US. Of course, purveyors of filth simply find a way around this ban by parking mobile vans outside schools. To retaliate, Leicester City Council is also seeking to ban mobile burger vans from outside schools.
At the end of the day this kind of legislation is pretty meaningless. It only deals with new outlets, and only deals with planning applications. A new shop could just open up without planning consent, fight any notice that the Council serves on them, and if they lose – so what, the process may have taken a long time, in which time they’ve made a profit.
Jamie Oliver (popular TV chef) tried a campaign to improve school dinner menus. In one famous case, mothers of pupils disgusted by the healthy, cosmopolitan fare, took orders from their children of fast food, and were filmed pushing the bags of chips, pasties and pure shortening through the school gates. You can imagine the reaction – middle class Britain was appalled by this “bad parenting”; working class Britain was appalled by the “diet fascists”.
I wonder if there’s a link between watching pornography and eating fast food (not necessarily at the same time) and the creativity index?
March 6th, 2009 at 6:00 pm
Robert said; “I wonder if there’s a link between watching pornography and eating fast food (not necessarily at the same time) and the creativity index?” ….Hmmm? I wonder about looking at the works of Fuseli, eating escargot, and the creativity index. I hope that socio-economics don’t determine creativity.