Fast-food outlets can weigh on students, research says

Barely 300 feet separate Fullerton, Calif., Union High School from a McDonald's restaurant. Researchers say that's boosting the odds its students will be supersized.

Teens who attend classes within one-tenth of a mile of a fast-food outlet are more likely to be obese than peers whose campuses are located farther from the quarter-pound burgers, fries and shakes.

Those are the findings of a recent study by researchers from the University of California, Berkeley and Columbia University seeking to find a link between obesity and the easy availability of fast food. The academics studied body-fat data from more than 1 million of California ninth-graders over eight years, focusing on the proximity of the school to chains including McDonald's, Burger King, KFC, Taco Bell and Pizza Hut.

The presence of an outlet within easy walking distance of a high school — about 530 feet or less — resulted in a 5.2 percent increase in the incidence of student obesity compared with their California peers, a correlation deemed "sizable" according to the findings.

The link vanished when these fast-food joints were farther from campus.

"Fast food offers the most calories per price compared to other restaurants, and that's combined with a high temptation factor for students," said Stefano DellaVigna, a Berkeley economist and one of the authors.

But many say blaming restaurants for the nation's weight problem is misguided. Obesity can be a product of many factors, experts say, including genetics, lack of exercise and household nutrition. Courts have struck down attempts by patrons to sue restaurant chains for making them fat.