People Who Live in Town Slim Down

July 30, 2008 -- People consider many things in choosing a neighborhood -- schools for their children, commuting distance, and what type of house they want -- but another factor might be worth factoring in: picking the right neighborhood may affect your waistline.

That's the conclusion of researchers from the University of Utah who calculated the body mass index (BMI) using driver license information for more than 450,000 people in Salt Lake County, Utah, and compared it with information about the individuals' neighborhoods gathered from census information.

The researchers found that the older the house people lived in, the less likely they were to be obese. Women's risk of obesity declined by about 8 percent for every 10 years older her house was, and men's risk dropped by 13 percent.

Of course there's no magic weight loss dust in old houses. Rather, it's the lifestyle that comes with older homes that counts.

"It's a great proxy for so many things, mainly the neighborhood being built with the pedestrian in mind instead of the car," said study author Ken Smith.

Older neighborhoods tend to have sidewalks, shade, houses oriented toward the front of the house, and porches, he said. "If you're contemplating walking, it will be pleasant, shady, and there's a human interaction factor."

"The other element is that older neighborhoods also tend to have places to walk to," he added.

But randomly assigning people to an older neighborhood would not necessarily get them to drop weight. People in older neighborhoods may weigh less because more active people choose to live in neighborhoods that allow them to pursue that lifestyle.