Minorities Harmed Most By Fast-Food Outlets Near School: Study

Black and Hispanic teens who go to school near fast-food restaurants are more likely to be overweight and to not benefit as much from exercise as white or Asian students, researchers have found. Because teens often make independent food choices before, during and after school when they are away from their parents, the investigators suggested that a better understanding of the local fast-food marketing strategies and their outcomes based on income, ethnicity and location is needed. "Our study demonstrates that fast food near schools is an environmental influence that has magnified effects on some minority children at lower-income urban schools," study co-author Brennan Davis, an assistant professor of marketing at Baylor University, said in a university news release. http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/news/fullstory_137489.html