PenDragon - the official magazine of Lyford Cay International School PenDragon Vol 2, Spring 2016 | Page 19

between the prevalence of fast food restaurants and adult Statistical analysis (chi-squared test and Spearman’s rank test)
obesity rates within The Bahamas?”
of the data indicated that obesity and prevalence of fast food
restaurants are not positively correlated. In other words, there is
The Bahamas has a youthful population and there are a large no relationship between the number of fast food restaurants and
number of Bahamians aged 25-54 years who make up the obesity rates. Therefore, there are other obesogenic factors that
economically active sector of the population. The government must affect obesity rates in The Bahamas.
depends on this labour pool to contribute to the economy. This
population is also, according to health statistics, increasingly Although there may not be fast food restaurants in the less-
obese. The health of those economically active persons should developed islands, there is still traditional Bahamian food. This
be of great importance to The Bahamas.
usually consists of macaroni and cheese, a piece of meat, rice
and peas, potato salad and sometimes vegetables. Traditional
This investigation examined the number of fast food restaurants Bahamian food tends to be high in sodium, cholesterol and
in each region of The Bahamas and the obesity rates of those starch. This diet likely contributes to the obesogenic environment
regions. Obesity statistics were not available for individual in The Bahamas. It is possible that regions without fast food
islands.
restaurants rely more on traditional food, which might be worse
than some fast foods. Some fast food restaurants like Subway
are perhaps healthier options than a typical Bahamian dish.
REGION ISLANDS
Bahama Subs and Chives, examples of healthier Bahamian fast
1
New Providence and Grand Bahama
food restaurants, are solely available in Region 1. Other regions
2
Abaco, Andros and Eleuthera
may likely have less accessibility in terms of healthy restaurant
options.
3
Long Island and Exuma
4
Other Family Islands
Data was gathered for ten of the largest American fast food
franchises: McDonald’s, Subway, Wendy’s, Pizza Hut, Burger
King, Domino’s, Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC), Dunkin’
Donuts, Starbucks and Dairy Queen. In total, the study counted
69 outlets from thes