Combating Obesity through the Built Environment: Is There a Clear Path to Success?

Trust for America's Health, “F as in Fat 2010” (2010), available at <http://healthyamericans.org/reports/obesity2010/Obesity2010Report.pdf> (last visited June 16, 2010).

Id.

This was certainly the case while I was a medical student in the late 1990s: We called type I diabetes “juvenile diabetes” and type II “adult-onset.” Type I diabetes usually first manifests in children and young adults and results from the destruction of insulin-producing cells by an auto-immune reaction; hence it is not related to obesity

Type II diabetes is related to obesity as those with a predisposition become resistant to insulin as they become more overweight. Some patients who are diagnosed with Type II diabetes can treat their condition without the need for medication if they improve their diet and activity levels.

Frieden T. R. Dietz W. Collins J. , “Reducing Childhood Obesity through Policy Change: Acting Now to Prevent Obesity,” Health Affairs 29, no. 3 (2010): 357–363, at 357.

Franks P. W. , “Childhood Obesity, Other Cardiovascular Risk Factors, and Premature Death,” New England Journal of Medicine 362, no. 6 (2010): 485–493.

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Whelan E. , “Confronting America's Childhood Obesity Epidemic: How the Health Care Reform Law Will Help Prevent and Reduce Obesity,” Center for American Progress (2010).

See Trust for America's Health, supra note 1.

See Whelan ., supra note 8.

See Trust for America's Health, supra note 1.

Booth K. M. , “Obesity and the Built Environment,” Journal of the American Dietetic Association 105, no. 5 (2005): S110–S117.

See, e.g., <http://www.cdc.gov/healthplaces/factsheets/Health_Issues_Related_to_Community_Design_factsheet_Final.pdf>; <http://www.cdc.gov/healthyplaces/> (both last visited June 16, 2011). (According to CDC fact sheet, its built environment initiative is designed “to encourage healthy community designs [through] collaborations across multiple disciplines such as transportation, urban planning, architecture, and public health law.”)

see also, <http://www.cdc.gov/nceh/publications/factsheets/ImpactoftheBuiltEnvironmentonHealth.pdf>; <http://www.cdc.gov/healthyplaces/hia.htm> (both last visited June 15, 2011).

Sallis J. F. Glanz K. , “The Role of the Built Environment in Physical Activity, Eating, and Obesity in Childhood,” Future of Children 16, no. 1 (2006): 89–108.

Id.

Oliver A. , “Is Nudge an Effective Public Health Strategy to Tackle Obesity? Yes,” BMJ 342 (2011): d2168

Hickman M. , “Nudge or Fudge?” The Independent, December 4, 2010, available at <http://www.independent.co.uk/lifestyle/health-and-families/health-news/nudge-or-fudge-public-health-fears-as-lansley-retreats-from-regulation-2151049.html> (last visited June 16, 2011).

See Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), H.R. 3590, 111th Cong. Sec. 4201 (2009).

PPACA, Sec. 4201(a).

Perdue W. C. , “Public Health and the Built Environment: Historical, Empirical, and Theoretical Foundations for an Expanded Role,” Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics 31, no. 4 (2003): 557–566.

Id.

Institute of Medicine, The Future of the Public's Health in the 21st Century (2002).

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See Booth , supra note 12, at 110.

See Sallis Glanz , supra note 14, at 91.

See Trust for America's Health, supra note 1, at 83.

Id.

Cao X. , “The Influences of the Built Environment and Residential Self-Selection on Pedestrian Behavior: Evidence from Austin, TX,” Transportation 33, no. 1 (2006): 1–20

Frank L. , “Stepping towards Causation: Do Built Environments or Neighborhood and Travel Preferences Explain Physical Activity, Driving, and Obesity?” Social Science & Medicine 65, no. 9 (2007): 1898–1914.

See Sallis Glanz , supra note 14, at 92

(“Before the middle of the twentieth century, communities were designed to support convenient pedestrian travel for common activities… These ‘traditional’ neighborhoods are characterized by mixed land use, connected streets, and moderate to high density.”). Id.

Id.

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See Oppenheimer M. , “It's a Wonderful Block,” New York Times, October 5, 2008, available at <http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/05/realestate/keymagazine/105newhaven-t.html?pagewanted=1> (last visited June 29, 2011)

(“‘New Urbanism’ is now a term so ubiquitous as to lose meaning, but the principles listed at NewUrbanism.org give a sense of the movement: “walkability,” which would include the presence of sidewalks, buildings close to the street, porches and trees; “connectivity,” which means, among other things, a grid system rather than the cul-de-sacs popular in new developments

a mix of housing styles and prices; and, most important, high residential density, which is good for the environment and for people's social lives.”).

See Sallis Glanz , supra note 14, at 93.

Id.

Moudon A. , “Attributes of Environments Supporting Walking,” American Journal of Health Promotion 21, no. 5 (2007): 448–459

Krizek K. Johnson P. , “Proximity to Trails and Retail: Effects on Urban Cycling and Walking,” Journal of the American Planning Association 36, no. 1 (2006): 33–42

Elvik R. , “Area-Wide Urban Traffic Calming Schemes: A Meta-Analysis of Safety Effects,” Accident Analysis and Prevention 33, no. 3 (2001): 327–336.

See Sallis Glanz , supra note 14, at 89.

Id.

Fernandez D. , “Alabama ‘Obesity Penalty’ Stirs Debate,” WebMD, August 25, 2008, available at <http://www.webmd.com/diet/news/20080825/alabama-obesity-penalty-stirs-debate> (last visited June 16, 2011).

Id. For example, in 2005 McDonald's home state passed the Illinois Commonsense Consumption Act, which bars, “[A] civil action brought by any person against a seller of a qualified product, for damages or injunctive relief based on a claim of injury resulting from a person's weight gain, obesity, or any health condition that is related to weight gain or obesity.” 745 ILCS 43/5.

Congresswoman Matsui and Senator Harkin Introduce Bill to Make Streets Safer and Encourage Healthier America, March 12, 2009, available at <http://www.matsui.house.gov/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1567&Itemid=98> (last visited June 16, 2011).

See Trust for America's Health, supra note 1, at 47.

Id.

Wisconsin Administrative Code Register, December, 2010, No. 660, Chapter Trans 75.04.

Schmitt A. , “Wisconsin Gov Scott Walker: Let Them Drive Cars,” Streets Blog, February 23, 2011, available at <http://streetsblog.net/2011/02/23/wisconsin-gov-scott-walker-let-them-drive-cars/> (last visited June 15, 2011).

Institute of Medicine, The Future of the Public Health (1988).

Burris S. , “The Invisibility of Public Health: Population-Level Measures in a Politics of Market Individualism,” American Journal of Public Health 87, no. 10 (1997): 1607–1610.

See Frieden , supra note 4, at 357.

See Coote A. , “Nanny Madness: What's So Terrible about a Nanny State, Anyway?” Guardian, May 26, 2004, available at <http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2004/may/26/guardiansocietysupplement.politics1> (last visited June 29, 2011).

Thaler R. H. Sunstein C. , Nudge: Improving Decisions about Health, Wealth, and Happiness (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2008)

see Oliver, supra note 16

Hickman , supra note 16.

Marteau T. M. , “Judging Nudging: Can Nudging Improve Population Health?” BMJ 342 (2011): 263–265.

Id., at 263.

See Thaler Sunstein , supra note 50, at 6.

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Carey J. , “Cass Sunstein: What Kind of Regulation Czar?” Bloomberg Businessweek, February 26, 2009, available at <http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/09_10/b4122058003732.htm> (last visited June 16, 2011)

see Oliver , supra note 16 (“The ‘nudge’ or more formally, libertarian paternalist agenda has captured the imagination of at least some of the British policy elite, epitomized by the creation of the Cabinet Office's behavioural insights team [the so called nudge unit.]”).

See Thaler Sunstein , supra note 50, at 83.

Id., at 13.

See Marteau ., supra note 51, at 263.

The Fun Theory website, “The Piano Stairs,” available at <http://www.thefuntheory.com/piano-staircase> (last visited June 26, 2011).

See supra note 36 and accompanying text (describing community planning features that can increase activity levels).

Khan F. , “Towards Achieving Lasting Healthcare Reform: Rethinking the American Social Contract,” Annals of Health Law 19, no. 1 (2010).

See Trust for America's Health, supra note 1.