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Outdoor Fast Food Ads causes Weight Loss Problem

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Past studies have suggested that there was a connection between ads on TV and magazine with the number of people who have a hard time losing weight, which results to obesity.

Now, researchers from Oklahoma have found out what connects another factor that contributes to weight gain.  The new study implies that outdoor food ads make it harder for a person to lose weight, resulting in more overweight people living where the ads located.

The study that got published in the journal BMC Public Health suggests that more outdoor food poster means more food temptation for people living near the area.  The situation makes it harder for people to achieve their weight loss goal, leading to obesity.

Dr. Lenard Lesser, who was part of the study, said that fast-food ads are common among the low-income population’s area.  Research has proven that ads do help the fast-food chains sell their unhealthy food.

The study was conducted in Los Angeles and New Orleans, each with a population of more than 2,000 people per square mile. The researchers concentrated on more than 200 randomly selected census tracts that come from the two areas, wherein a mixture of high- and low-income residents lives.

The team makes use of data from a previous study for ads and alcohol consumption.  From there, they were able to connect the information with telephone-survey data from the same study, wherein 2,600 participated.

Researchers discovered that the more ads in an area, the more obese people living there.

Since the study was only focused on areas, the authors claimed that it needed some additional study to find out if the same finding also applies to other areas. Since the study was cross-sectional, the researchers do not assert that the ads are what were caused by obesity in one area.  They also note that the information gathered was bias since many people do not want to share their real weight.