Public Policy

Obesity is one of the leading causes of preventable deaths in the United States, as it causes a variety of serious health problems including type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, stroke, some cancers, kidney disease, and more. In the United States, obesity has been on the rise for decades and has shown no sign of slowing down. The epidemic disproportionately affects low-income and minority individuals. One factor contributing to this health disparity is inadequate public and private transportation among such communities, making access to supermarkets (which carry fresh, healthy produce) less attainable. Solving the obesity epidemic in the United States will require significant government support and will likely take a combination of efforts to improve multiple contributing factors: corporate marketing, city zoning, supermarket pricing, transportation, etc. This review discusses the consequences – and potential solutions - of one aspect of the obesity epidemic: transportation. This focus of this paper is on the United States, but its content has international relevance relating to transportation’s effects on public health as a whole.