title: What Is Driving Obesity? A Review on the Connections Between Obesity and Motorized Transportation.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Traveling by automobile rather than walking or cycling can encourage obesity by eliminating physical activity. As national obesity rates in the USA have reached 37.9% in 2014, understanding the connections between obesity and transportation choices can help policymakers in the public health community propose effective obesity interventions at the national level.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Following from foundational studies examining associations between the built environment and leisure walking, recent studies consider a diverse set of transportation choices regarding mode (e.g., automobile, walking, public transit) and purpose (e.g., commuting, leisure), along with studies on the effectiveness of several transportation-related interventions for obesity. The reviewed studies point toward potential interventions for obesity; there is emerging evidence that commuting by public transit may be one such intervention. Moreover, new data-gathering tools such as global positioning systems, geographic information systems, and accelerometers may alleviate statistical obstacles in conducting future studies.
authors.affiliation: Department of Industrial and Enterprise Systems Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 117 Transportation Building, 104 S. Mathews Avenue, MC-238, Urbana, IL, 61801, USA. dmking@illinois.edu.
authors.forename: Douglas M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: King
authors.affiliation: Department of Computer Science, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 201 North Goodwin Avenue, MC-258, Urbana, IL, 61801, USA.
authors.forename: Sheldon H
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Jacobson
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001334:Automobile Driving / Q000523:psychology*; D001642:Bicycling / Q000502:physiology / Q000523:psychology; D004779:Environment Design; D015444:Exercise / Q000502:physiology / Q000523:psychology; D005742:Gasoline / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D007899:Leisure Activities / Q000523:psychology; D009765:Obesity / Q000209:etiology*; D014186:Transportation; D016138:Walking / Q000502:physiology / Q000523:psychology; D017132:Workplace / Q000523:psychology
chemical_list: D005742:Gasoline
keywords: Active travel; Automobile travel; Built environment; Obesity