Behavioral links between built environment such as parks and obesity can now be unlocked by using Artificial Intelligence from space. This new method will be able to estimate obesity on Earth.

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By assessing a particular area with high obesity rates, city planners can develop more green areas to help people become more physically active.
The team then fed these images into a convolutional deep learning neural network - aka AI -- that extracted features of the built environment - the distribution of buildings and green area.
"The extraction of built environment showed that physical characteristics of a neighborhood (presence of parks, highways, green streets, crosswalks, diverse housing types) could be associated with variations in obesity prevalence across different neighborhoods," the researchers wrote.
Obesity has been linked to factors such as genetics, diet, physical activity and the environment.
However, evidence indicating associations between the built environment and obesity has varied across studies and geographical contexts.
"Understanding the association between specific features of the built environment and obesity prevalence can lead to structural changes that could encourage physical activity and decreases in obesity prevalence," said the researchers.
The built environment can influence health through the availability of resources, such as housing, activity and recreational spaces, and measures of community design, the findings showed.
According to the researchers, assessing an area’s obesity rates may help city planners develop more green areas to help people remain more physically active.
Source-IANS
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