Car-loving suburbanites pack on about six more pounds than those who live in dense cities, where people tend to keep off weight by walking more.
Studies on the issue published Thursday call on urban planners and zoning boards to consider people's health in designing neighborhoods.
''How you build things influences health in a much more pervasive way than I think most health professionals realize,'' said Dr. Richard Jackson of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, who helped edit the research, published in the American Journal of Public Health and the American Journal of Health Promotion.
The studies mark the first attempt to pinpoint just how much it matters that in a sprawling community, homes are far from work, stores and schools.
``Look at many new suburbs -- there are not any sidewalks at all, said John Pucher of Rutgers University.
``The result is we just don't walk.'
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