ABSTRACT
Regional Planning, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA 9.1 INTRODUCTION The built environment consists of both the micro-environment (i.e., neighborhood and street-level characteristics) and the macro-environment (i.e., level of urbanization, land-use patterns, etc.) (Swinburn et al., 1999). Not only can the built environment shape opportunities for physical activity, but it can also play a role in shaping our food intake (Humpel et al., 2002). To date, little is known about the role of the built environment on the metabolic syndrome (MetS) or other metabolic and cardiovascular diseases. Recently, we (Dengel et al., 2009) examined the relationship between the built environmental and biological markers of the MetS. This monograph will summarize and discuss the results of that study. 9.2 MATERIALS AND METHODS We examined adolescents (ages 10-16 at baseline), who were enrolled in a 3-year longitudinal etiologic study aimed at understanding the social and environmental influences on unhealthy weight gain in adolescences. One hundred eighty-eight participants in this longitudinal study agreed to have a fasting blood sample drawn in addition to the other measures being done as part of the longitudinal study. A MetS cluster score was derived for each participant by calculating the sum of the sample-specific z-scores from percent body fat, fasting glucose, high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL)(negative), triglyceride, and systolic blood pressure (BP) (Kelly et al.; 2008; Dengel et al., 2009).
