Fast Food and Obesity in NYC Neighborhoods: Future

In any study there are certain limitations due to time constraints and specificity of research goals.

Some of the limitations and future considerations for my 2007 study on Fast Food and Obesity in NYC neighborhoods include:

• Inclusion of all major fast food chains and independent fast food restaurants
• Inclusion of commercial characteristics of neighborhood
• More involved determination of accessibility of fast food restaurants
• More involved calculation of usage of fast food restaurants (i.e. all fast food restaurants are not equal)
• More involved exploration of the unique local food environment of each community
• Inclusion of a measure of Social Capital

This study only examined NYC and therefore can not be applied to other regions.

Future studies should examine different types of areas, such as suburban and rural areas, as well as other urban areas.

NYC is a unique area to study and conclusions made off of New York City can not be generalized to other areas.

Also, this research was completed in 2007 for my Senior Research Project. An updated version of this study would be of interest.

Obesity is not a static problem and longitudinal studies would be of interest.

This study is limited in the sense that it only examined one city at one given time. However, the food environment evolves and the conclusions made in 2007 may no longer be applicable.

However, the main ideas of the paper are still relevant today.

A collaborate effort, with input from medical, economic, political and neighborhood leaders, is necessary to effectively change current conditions and better combat obesity.

Summary
Background
Discussion
Conclusion
Future