In 2008, lawmakers in Los Angeles passed an ordinance restricting the opening of new fast-food restaurants in low-income South Los Angeles areas.

The ban affected neighborhoods in which about 700,000 residents dwell. While the law was not the nation's first local regulation limiting fast-food outlets, it was the first one presented as a public health measure by advocates.

 

However, the new study found that not only did the measure fail to curb consumption of fast-food, but weight problems became more prevalent in the banned areas than elsewhere in the city or the county.

The research was published online by the journal Social Science & Medicine.

 

"The one bright spot we found is that soft drink consumption dropped, but the decrease was similar in all areas across Los Angeles," said study co-author Aiko Hattori of the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. "Unfortunately, the rates of overweight and obesity increased ,and they increased fastest in the area subject to the fast-food ban."

 

The study’s authors said the fast-food ban had only “symbolic value.”