Your ZIP code is making you fat.
More overweight people dwell in less attractive areas of the city, Columbia University researchers concluded in a recent survey of 13,102 New Yorkers.
The study found that “attractive community and natural features” resulted in lower body-mass indexes for adults living in the Big Apple. The index is a measure of body fat based on a person’s height and weight.
“We’re trying to get at what makes a neighborhood attractive, in particular to pedestrians — what makes people feel comfortable and safe,” study co-author Gina Lovasi told The Post.
Some of the lowest BMI neighborhoods in the city are the Upper East Side, Chelsea and Gramercy.
Some of the highest BMI areas — deemed “ugly” by the researchers’ criteria — are East New York, Southeast Queens, Jamaica, Sunset Park, Mott Haven and Hunts Point in the South Bronx, where the city Department of Health says about 32 percent of adults are obese.
Neighborhoods with more attractive amenities — such as sidewalk cafes, landmark buildings and trees — may “encourage active life styles which support a healthy weight,” said Lovasi, an epidemiologist.
But contrary to the researchers’ expectations, areas with clean streets were found to have a higher BMI — possibly because there are fewer pedestrians outside to get gut-busting exercise and generate litter, Lovasi said.
Also, an area’s murder rate and auto accidents did not have a correlation to BMI, the researchers concluded.
The study — which appears in last month’s issue of the American Journal of Preventative Medicine — notes that many facets of attractiveness could be a proxy for an underlying cause, such as political power or commercial investment.
But more research needs to be done if the results are to spur public policy, cautioned Lovasi, who is working with city Department of Health researchers on a follow-up study focusing on cyclists and pedestrians.
“We would ideally like to know whether adding attractive features helps residents to avoid gaining weight,” Lovasi said. “But it is also possible that [New York] residents who weigh less live in more attractive neighborhoods for some other reason.
“It will be important to understand how people differ in what they consider attractive about a neighborhood, as well as barriers that keep people from moving to the neighborhood they prefer.”
One impediment might be a fat bank account.
“It’s that old saying, ‘You can never be too thin or too rich.’ Affluent people tend to be thinner, and this is an affluent neighborhood,” said Brooklyn Heights resident Irene Janner, who said the findings hold up — at least as far as she can see.
“I have more problems dodging baby carriages on my street than overweight people,” she noted.