Study: high-density housing linked with lower risk of diabetes

Living in an area where you can walk to get groceries will lower your risk of diabetes.

A new census analysis by St. Michael’s hospital’s Centre for Research on Inner City Health has found that residents of Toronto living in areas with lower-density housing, such as the Humber Valley and Bridle Path areas, also have 33 per cent higher risk of diabetes and obesity.

People who live in areas with low-density housing are much less likely to walk or bike to local grocery stores and restaurants. They have more dependency on cars which can prevent them from getting the extra exercise associated with walking instead of driving to urban necessities.

Important to remember is that diabetes risk has still be corrected for other factors such as age, gender and income levels, which can all have large effects on obesity and diabetes risk. Within certain neighbourhoods which contain many socioeconomic groups risk levels can vary widely, but on average the more walkable communities saw lower risk of the disease.

The analysis, although Toronto-based, is presumably also true in other large cities.