Miles racked up on the road adds inches to your waist: Study

ATLANTA, (May 31, 2004) — A recent study conducted with 10,000 Atlanta residents has concluded that the more time drivers spend behind the wheel the more pounds they’ll pack under the waistline.

The survey — conducted by University of British Columbia professor Lawrence Frank for Georgia Tech — found that for every extra 30 minutes commuters drove each day, they had a three per-cent greater chance of being obese than those who drove less.

“The more driving you do means you’re going to weigh more — the more walking means you’re going to weigh less,” Frank was quoted as saying by the Associate Press.

The study found that the amount of time a person spent driving had a greater impact on obesity than other factors such as income, education, gender or ethnicity. In the study, which is expected to appear in the June issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, researchers tracked participants’ travel behavior and measured their height and weight from 2000 to 2002.

The study focused on Atlanta, but Frank said the city is not alone. That’s bad news for North American truck drivers, many of which spend more than half the day driving, and sometimes even more than that crammed in their vehicles.

— from the Associate Press


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