University of Canterbury. New-Zealand: New Zealanders who live close to parks or green spaces are less
likely to be overweight or suffer from obesity, a University of
Canterbury research project has found. The researchers say there is potential benefit in featuring green
spaces in health promotions in both urban and deprived areas of New
Zealand.
The prevalence of adult obesity in New Zealand is high (28 percent in
2011/12) and rising, leading to escalating health care costs,
especially for associated conditions such as Type II diabetes. About 11
percent of New Zealand children up to the age of 14 are considered
obese. Another 20 percent are overweight and at risk of obesity.
The University of Canterbury geography research, headed by Professor
Simon Kingham, explored private and public green spaces and people
undertaking physical activity. It analysed the activities of 12,500 New
Zealanders, including 2500 Aucklanders, and found green spaces
influenced their physical and mental health.
“Park creation and planting in existing public spaces may serve as
low-cost disease prevention options. Our results also indicate the
potential benefit of targeted health promotion in both urban and
deprived areas in New Zealand.
“We found associations between neighbourhood environmental
characteristics, obesity and related behaviours among adult New
Zealanders. There is a growing recognition of the potential role of
environmental factors in reducing obesity and promoting physical
activity and healthy diets.
“We found that increased neighbourhood deprivation and decreased
access to neighbourhood green spaces were both significantly associated
with increased odds of being overweight and / or obese. Increased access
to green space was associated with high levels of walking, while
decreased access to green space was associated with low levels of
walking.
“There was also a significant trend for low levels of walking to be
positively associated with neighbourhood deprivation. Results for
adequate fruit and vegetable consumption show rural people meeting
recommended levels more than those in cities.
“Geographic access to supermarkets was better in deprived
neighbourhoods than affluent neighbourhoods, but access was not
associated with individuals’ vegetable intake.
“This is probably the first study in New Zealand to evaluate the
potential role of environmental characteristics in influencing obesity
of becoming overweight, adding to evidence from the United States,
Australia, Canada and Europe.
“The fear of neighbourhood crime has also exhibited a negative impact
on mental and physical wellbeing in New Zealand and has been shown to
reduce residents’ walking within the local neighbourhood in Australia
and the United Kingdom.”
Professor Kingham heads the University of Canterbury’s spatial
GeoHealth Laboratory, which researches in areas such as health
geography, spatial epidemiology and geographic information systems.
The laboratory has examined issues such as household crowding and
infectious disease; monitoring people’s health in cities; mental health
outcomes following the 2010 and 2011 earthquakes; and travel, transport
and travel and health outcomes.