Biking, Obesity, and the Public Health Approach?

Michelle Obama visited a North Philly grocery store and school last week and spoke about her campaign against childhood obesity.


Last week, Philadelphia’s City Council held a hearing on obesity; and among many others, the Bicycle Coalition’s Breen Goodwin and Neighborhood Bike Works’ Andy Dyson testified. Even though the problem of obesity is sobering, it was exciting to hear about how bicycling (and walking) have important roles to play in addressing this public health problem.

Lack of physical activity is one of the main causes spoken about last Wednesday. But more than just promoting physical activity, advocates of biking promote ‘active living’: valuing physical activity as an integral part of the individual and social development process. And one of the simplest ways to make active living a part of daily life is to incorporate physical activity into what we already do each day. Going to work. Going to school. Running daily errands.

However, many of the speakers last Wednesday emphasized that there are many environmental barriers to encouraging a healthy and active lifestyle, such as TV watching, lack of access to affordable healthy food, insufficient physical education/after-school activity.

But, the speakers also emphasized, this means that small structural changes can make big differences in behavior and health. Which is where biking and walking have a role to play. As Breen commented in her testimony:

It is important to understand the importance of infrastructure change in the entire picture of creating a healthy environment and community. Changing the streets encourages people to have a more active and healthy lifestyle. The Spruce and Pine buffered bike lanes are not only a nice neighborhood amenity but they are a direct health initiative. A lack of bike lanes, unsafe road conditions and the speed/volume of traffic were cited by bicyclists as the top three reasons for not riding more (after weather conditions).

It seems to me that, even when biking advocates discuss active living, we don’t often frame it in the language of public health. But at last week’s hearing, it was exciting to explore the intersections between bicycle advocacy and many other public health endeavors. Structural changes like infrastructure improvements can encourage people to bike more, but biking is just a means to any number of ends, everything from healthier living to academic success.

How would approaching bike advocacy from a public health perspective change the tactics/message of bike advocates? Would this be a useful tool to have? Do people already make this argument and it’s just the first time I’ve heard it?

Some of the other cool structural changes we heard about in Philadelphia to combat obesity:
-The Food Trust's Healthy Corner Stores Initiative
-Improving access to affordable supermarkets
-School Health Councils
-An upcoming Farm-to-Family project, featuring a collaboration between Neighborhood Bike Works students and St. Christopher's Hospital!

More info and statistics on obesity from the CDC.