Walk, cycle to fight obesity: study

People who walk or cycle for transport tend to be slimmer than those who rely on a car to get around, according to a new study of 15 countries.

The study looked at the relationship between “active travel” — bicycling or walking instead of driving — and physical activity, obesity and Type 2 diabetes.

More than half of the differences in obesity rates among countries was linked to walking and cycling rates, Prof. David Bassett Jr. of the department of kinesiology, recreation and sport studies at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and his colleagues report in the American Journal of Public Health.

“Our results suggest statistically significant relationships — in the expected direction — between walking, cycling and health at the country, state and city levels,” the study’s authors concluded.