Green Space Exposure and Obesity in the Mexican Adult Population

Nabetse Baruc Blas-Miranda, Ana Lilia Lozada-Tequeanes (), Juan Antonio Miranda-Zuñiga and Marcia P. Jimenez
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Nabetse Baruc Blas-Miranda: Nutrition and Health Research Center (CINyS), National Institute of Public Health of Mexico (INSP), Cuernavaca 62100, Mexico
Ana Lilia Lozada-Tequeanes: Nutrition and Health Research Center (CINyS), National Institute of Public Health of Mexico (INSP), Cuernavaca 62100, Mexico
Juan Antonio Miranda-Zuñiga: Department of Actuarial Science, National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), Mexico City 04510, Mexico
Marcia P. Jimenez: Department of Epidemiology, Boston University School of Public Health, Boston, MA 02118, USA

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 22, 1-13

Abstract: Green space or natural vegetation may reduce obesity risk by increasing opportunities for physical activity or reducing stress and exposure to other pollutants. Obesity prevalence in Mexico is ranked among the highest in the world. However, research on the association between green space and obesity in Mexico is lacking. We used data from the National Nutrition Survey in Mexico (2018–2019), a nationally representative sample of Mexican adults. The analytical sample included participants between 20–59 years of age ( n = 12,631). We assessed exposure to green space using a 30 m resolution Landsat satellite Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) from 2018. Linear regression models examined associations between NDVI and body mass index (BMI), adjusting for confounders. The mean age of the study sample was 38 (SD 0.19) years. Participants living in areas with the highest green space exposure had the lowest education level (53.51%) and socioeconomic status (28.38%) and were located in central (33.01%), south (30.37%), and rural areas (21.05%). Higher residential exposure to green space was associated with a mean decrease in BMI of −1.1 kg/m 2 (95% CI: −1.59, −0.68). This is one of the first studies in Latin America to suggest a protective association between green space and obesity among Mexican adults.

Keywords: green space; obesity; environmental health; Latino population; spatial epidemiology (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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