Where you live may make you fatter: study

TORONTO (Reuters Life!) - People may be what they eat because of where they live, according to a new Canadian study. The research suggests people who live in low-income neighborhoods have greater access to fast food and less access to supermarkets where healthier food is available.

"In urban settings, the environment does indeed influence physical activity and nutrition and body weight," Kim Raine, the lead author and director of the University of Alberta's Centre for Health Promotion Studies, said in an interview.

"We consistently found that low-income neighborhoods do not have as much access to low-cost, healthy foods and have higher access to things like fast foods -- high-calorie, high-fat foods at a relatively cheap price per calorie."

Raine said that tax incentives may be needed to lure supermarkets back to lower-income areas.

The study looked at the roles of the urban economic and physical environment, nutrition and physical activity in producing healthy body weights.

The findings are based on more than 350 studies from Canada, the United States and Australia. The research was funded by the Canadian Institute for Health Information.

More than half of Canadians are considered overweight or obese, Raine said.

The research also showed that people who live in middle- or high-income neighborhoods were more likely to be physically active than those in lower-income areas.

Raine said people with healthier body weights tended to live in more walk-friendly neighborhoods that have access to recreational facilities.

Raine said the study also showed a link between suburban areas, where people must drive everywhere, and increased rates of obesity and lower physical activity.

"If you're living in a neighborhood full of cul de sacs and the only services are outside of that neighborhood, you have to drive there," Raine said.

(Editing by Peter Galloway)