Study highlights postcode lottery over Type 2 diabetes and obesity risk

The risk of Type 2 diabetes could be linked to how close people live to fast-food outlets, a new study has found.

The research led by the University of Leicester and the University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust has found that there was a higher number of fast-food outlets within 500 metres of inner-city neighbourhoods described as non-white as well as in socially deprived areas.

The study was carried out by a team from the Leicester Diabetes Centre based at Leicester General Hospital in collaboration with the University of Leicester’s Diabetes Research Centre, Department of Health Sciences and Department of Geography.

Professor Melanie Davies and Professor Kamlesh Khunti, Co-Directors of the Department have been conducting one of the largest screening studies with south Asian patients. The data from this study has also helped with recommendations for the NHS Health Checks Programme.

The researchers warn that their findings, based on a study of over 10,000 people, have important implications for diabetes prevention and for those granting planning permission for fast-food outlets.

The study’s authors, Dr Patrice Carter with Dr Danielle Bodicoat, wrote in the article published in Public Health Nutrition: “Our study suggests that for every additional two outlets per neighbourhood, we would expect one additional diabetes case, assuming a causal relationship between the fast-food outlet and diabetes.”

Professor Khunti, Professor of Primary Care Diabetes & Vascular Medicine at the University of Leicester, said: “In a multi-ethnic region of the UK, individuals had on average two fast-food outlets within 500m of their home. 

We found that the number of fast-food outlets in a person’s neighbourhood was associated with an increased risk of screen-detected Type 2 diabetes and obesity

“This number differed substantially by key demographics, including ethnicity; people of non-white ethnicity had more than twice the number of fast-food outlets in their neighbourhood compared with white Europeans. We found that the number of fast-food outlets in a person’s neighbourhood was associated with an increased risk of screen-detected Type 2 diabetes and obesity.

“We found a much higher number of fast food outlets in more deprived areas where a higher number of black and minority ethnic populations resided. This in turn was associated with higher prevalence of obesity and diabetes. The results are quite alarming and have major implications for public health interventions to limit the number of fast food outlets in more deprived areas.”

The research was supported by the National Institute for Health Research Collaboration for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care East Midlands (NIHR CLAHRC EM), the Leicester Clinical Trials Unit and the NIHR Leicester–Loughborough Diet, Lifestyle and Physical Activity Biomedical Research Unit, which is a partnership between University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust, Loughborough University and the University of Leicester.