"Obesity hits New York's poor neighborhoods hardest," - RUETERS
New Study Shows Bed Stuy Rate Soars Past 30 Percent

Between 2003 and 2007, the prevalence of obesity citywide increased from 20 percent to 22 percent, according to the study, published in the American Journal of Epidemiology.

In more affluent areas like the Upper East Side, Chelsea and the West Village, obesity rates hovered around 8 percent across the study period.

In contrast, obesity was a more common and growing problem in other city neighborhoods, many of which are lower-income. In 2003, only one neighborhood -- East Harlem -- had an obesity rate higher than 30 percent. By 2007, six neighborhoods had joined it: three in the Bronx, the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn, Rockaway in Queens and northern Staten Island.