Demographic map on obesity levels and McDonalds chains

I have chosen two maps to look at here, for the reason that one has a huge bearing on the other. The first map looks at the obesity rates across Americans over the age of 20 from 2009, with obvious results. The rates of obesity tend to swell in the regions of ‘Dixie’, the east coast and in patches along the west coast. It is thought that a staggering 34.4% of adults in the state of Mississippi are obese, with nearly double that overweight; clearly this is the reason why heart disease and diabetes are the major chronic disease killers in the state. This is not just the burden of Mississippi; it is predicted that obesity will soon overtake smoking as the No.1 type of preventable death in the whole of the USA.

The second map gives some explanation to this. It shows the placement of every McDonalds restaurant in the whole of the USA. When comparing the density of restaurants to showings of obesity, the findings are almost identical. Once again, the greatest showings come from the eastern side of the US, especially in the south stretching to Florida and along the northeastern coastlines. Then, just like the map above it, there is a much more sparse region in ‘The Empty Quarter’ where obesity rates are far lower, therefore the amount of McDonalds significantly decreases.

These similarities cannot just be coincidence. A few facts from the 2004 documentary ‘Supersize Me’ provide some frightening evidence for the correlation. On average, a quarter of Americans visit a McDonalds or similar fast food chain every day. Since the 1980s the rate of childhood obesity has doubled, in that time the amount McDonalds chains have gone from around 6000 to roughly 14000. Figures such as these show a direct link between the increasing levels of obesity in America and the huge amount of fast food chains.

Sources:

http://strangemaps.wordpress.com/page/14/  - for McDonalds map

http://blogs.plos.org/obesitypanacea/2013/04/10/obesity-and-altitude/  - map of obesity levels

http://www.vivavegie.org/101book/text/nolink/social/supersizeme.htm - ‘Supersize Me’ facts

http://msdh.ms.gov/msdhsite/_static/43,0,289.html - Records for obesity levels in Mississippi