
Mapping Neighborhood-Level Obesity in the United States - sebg
http://www.datainnovation.org/2015/09/mapping-neighborhood-level-obesity-in-the-united-states/
======
jrin
Developer here, obesity is strongly correlated with race, ethnicity,
educational attainment. So, yes, income and poverty play a key role, but are
not the sole determinants of obesity. The obesity map doesn't look exactly
like either a poverty map, or a race map, or an education map-- it's a
synthesis of how those factors influence obesity. See the home page
[http://synthpopviewer.rti.org/obesity/](http://synthpopviewer.rti.org/obesity/)
for additional background on how the data were created and be sure to look at
layers depicting significant clustering of the results.

~~~
dougmccune
Thanks for that writeup link, that's really helpful in understanding what
you've done. So everyone saying how the map correlates with various socio-
economic factors is right (in various ways) because the obesity determination
is entirely derived from socio-economic variables. That makes sense, but it
wasn't clear until I read the writeup you posted that that's what we're
looking at.

------
nrjames
Here's a direct link to the tool instead of to an article about it:
[http://synthpopviewer.rti.org/obesity/viewer.html](http://synthpopviewer.rti.org/obesity/viewer.html)

------
calebm
I just ate a full meal from McDonalds this week for the first time in a while,
and realized that I ate around 1000 calories, and was still a little hungry.
This was really surprising, since 500 calories of healthy food can make me
feel full.

~~~
noir_lord
Not that surprising tbh, Satiation isn't directly dependent on calories
consumed but on various markers such as chewing, pressure on stomach wall and
certain chemical responses.

Junkfood short circuits most of these, it's incredibly calorie dense and is
easy to eat quickly since it requires little chewing, by the time your body
signals satiation you can easily consume 1300 calories or more.

I've been on a calories restriced diet for the last 4 months (1500 or less a
day) and I've eaten a few times at McDonalds, I just get a quarter pounder
(higher meat to carb ratio, meat increases satiety more than carbs per gram)
and a diet coke and then eat is in small bites and chew it thoroughly, by the
time I'm done I feel the same satiation as I would have done bolting down a
big mac and fries previously.

So far I'm down 45lbs with another 10 or so to go.

------
awjr
Would be better to analyse other factors over the top of these. Income I guess
is obvious, however transport probably is significant. Can you cycle/walk/get
good public transport?

What about topography?

~~~
nrjames
If you click through to the "SYNTHPOPVIEWER," you can see other factors on a
similar map, but not overlaid.
[http://synthpopviewer.rti.org](http://synthpopviewer.rti.org)

------
tyh
My cursory glance seems to suggest higher obesity neighborhoods tend to be
lower income ones. Though that observation is completely anecdotal based on my
life experiences living in different parts of the country.

~~~
sageabilly
Yeah, that divide is extremely well delineated in DC, in an incredibly freaky
way. Although I was quite interested to see the diversity of the pixelation in
Great Falls which is one of the wealthiest areas of Fairfax County/ DC
Suburbs. I suppose if you're really really rich you either take great pains to
be in incredible shape or you just let yourself go completely.

~~~
alistairSH
I just noticed the same (and made a similar comment in response elsewhere).

------
pseudometa
I get the feeling they could simply interchange income maps for obesity maps
and no one would know which is which.

~~~
gorena
Not exactly, Flushing in Queens is not obese, but isn't at all a rich
neighborhood (assuming blue=good, red=bad, this thing doesn't have a key).

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flushing,_Queens](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flushing,_Queens)

~~~
cm2012
It's also full of east asian immigrants, which are less likely to be fat (look
up the obesity rate in Korea, for instance - it's almost 0)

------
jws
In rural areas, the neighborhood squares cover individual houses. I'm seeing
some where my daughter lives that cover individual people. They seem accurate,
the blues and reds live next door to each other.

------
kristopolous
In Los Angeles, it maps out to ethnicity pretty nicely. I don't know why, I
wouldn't think it would, but it clearly does.

~~~
waterlesscloud
Yeah, even more so than income. It is kinda weird that way.

~~~
kristopolous
The only thing I can think of is vestigial cultural rules being a determining
factor; what you eat, when, how much - what your hobbies tend to be, how much
you move in life.

Every individual of course sets his or her own path, but populations taken as
a whole seem to exhibit dominant patterns.

~~~
minority-one
So the only thing you can think of to explain this is cultural factor?

You don't think genetics could be a factor here at all?

~~~
kristopolous
Sorry. I claim zero knowledge of epidemiological obesity studies or theories.
In retrospect, it was not my place to conjecture at all --- I really don't
know anything about this.

Although for a thoughtful and thorough analysis:

An introductory wikipedia article:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epidemiology_of_obesity](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epidemiology_of_obesity)

Google scholar search:
[https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=epidemiological+obesity](https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=epidemiological+obesity)

------
pnathan
Interesting. My read on this map is that it also tracks the urban/non-urban
breakdown very neatly: as you get out of the urban code, obesity %s increase
dramatically.

~~~
davidw
There seems to be some kind of 'periphery' effect too, in places: zoom in on
Portland, Oregon, and it sort of looks like there's a red ring around the
town.

I could see it being a 'rural' thing, but the ring is weird.

~~~
nrjames
That could just be from gentrification pushing lower income people out of the
city center. Similar things have happened in DC, Chicago, etc. This Wired
article shows some of that effect. [http://www.wired.com/2013/08/how-
segregated-is-your-city-thi...](http://www.wired.com/2013/08/how-segregated-
is-your-city-this-eye-opening-map-shows-you/)

~~~
pnathan
I don't think so, at least in Seattle. Looking at the city breakdown, it
corresponds to transit coverage and (my perception) transit friendliness. It
actually seems to correspond inversely against income, since the transit
coverage is vaguely inverse with Seattle income.

This is, by the way, a strong conflict with East Coast cities in the US, where
there's a decided "obese area" visible. I don't have insight into those from
the ground level.

------
ticktocktick
This map follows the income distribution in my area very closely. Neat, but
sad.

------
kelukelugames
How do we fix food deserts? I have no idea but I wish we could solve it.

If I was a billionaire I would subsidize running Whole Foods in impoverished
neighborhoods.

~~~
cpursley
A big misconception about fixing food deserts is that if we could "just add
healthy options", the problem would be solved. But it's not that simple ~ it's
an education and cultural issue. Where I live has a lot of red dots on this
map and is not considered a food desert, I've got several grocery options. The
issue is folks here are deeply steeped in modern southern food culture (fried
on top of fried everything. all white bread and meat. very few vegetables, if
any) combined with low income and education. They simply don't want to eat
"rabbit food" (I'm quoting from actual conversations). Suggest anything
different to them and they are offended. My (obese with numerous health
issues) neighbors think my wife and I are "libruls" because we eat normally.
It's a whole different mindset that you must empathize with and understand
before talking about how to fix it.

------
gorena
Where does the data come from? It doesn't say.

