Fast-food consumption and obesity rates continued to increase in all areas of LA from 2007 to 2011-2012, and the increase was greatest in the areas affected by the fast-food restrictions. No new free-standing fast-food restaurants have opened, but they were rare to start with.įinally, he says, 'social norms have not changed, either.' Surveys of diet and obesity show no changes that can be attributed to the new fast-food restrictions. Small corner stores are common, and so are fast-food restaurants in strip malls. In the years since the ordinance was enacted, he says, the distribution of food outlets in this part of LA has remained more or less the same. They are far outnumbered by restaurants in strip malls and small food shops such as corner stores, none of which are restricted by the new city ordinance. Yet Sturm found that in South LA, the area covered by the ban, free-standing restaurants are relatively uncommon. It merely blocked new construction or expansion of 'stand-alone fast-food' restaurants. In part, he says, it's because the fast-food ban took aim at an inconsequential target. In reality, he says, 'this has had no measurable impact.' Opponents, like fast-food chains, said 'the sky is falling,' Sturm tells The Salt. In fact, obesity rates in South Los Angeles and other neighborhoods the law was aimed at increased faster than in other parts of the city or other parts of the county.Īdvocates of the measure saw it as a powerful tool to help improve diets. He concludes in new paper published online by the journal Social Science & Medicine that there's no evidence it had any effect at all. Now Sturm, an economist, has taken a close look at what LA's fast-food ban has accomplished. When Los Angeles decided in 2008 to ban new fast-food restaurants in some of the city's poorest neighborhood, Sturm was skeptical that it would help lower obesity rates. There's a researcher at the RAND Corporation who has been building a reputation as a curmudgeonly skeptic when it comes to trendy ways to fight America's obesity epidemic.įirst, Roland Sturm took aim at the idea that 'food deserts' - areas without well-stocked grocery stores - cause unhealthy diets and obesity. An economist with the Rand Corporation argues that Los Angeles' fast-food ban failed because it merely blocked new construction or expansion of 'stand-alone fast-food' restaurants in neighborhoods where that style of restaurant was uncommon to begin with.

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