Kesla Sorenson and her daughter, Whaia Tawhara, 11, live four houses from Davies Corner. They want more neighbourhood shops that sell fresh produce.

Another fast-food shop just opened in Fairfield, Hamilton - a pizza place.

At Davies Corner alone, there are now two pizza places, two fish 'n' chip shops, two bakeries (one that sells fried chicken and one that doesn't), a liquor store, a cafe, an Indian takeaway and a dairy.

Fairfield might be rich in fast food, but the people who live there are among the city's poorest. It is part of a cluster of neighbourhoods the city calls Hamilton East Area 3.

REBEKAH PARSONS-KING/FAIRFAX NZ Rototuna resident Tracey Clark has $80 to $100 a week to feed herself, her two children and three students.

In Area 3, there are 25 places you can buy takeaways and three places that sell fresh produce.

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Those numbers matter: recent research shows there is a connection between obesity and a lack of access to healthy food. And that research out of VU University Medical Centre, in Amsterdam, also shows that residents of socioeconomically deprived areas are most at risk.

Kesla Sorenson moved to Fairfield from Rotorua a year ago. Her house on Clarkin Road is a hundred metres from Davies Corner.

"There isn't much healthy stuff to buy. They sometimes have bananas at the dairy - and potatoes," she said.

"We get around on the bus, so we do our shopping once a fortnight at Pak'N Save and have to make do with what fruit and veg we can afford at the time."

A large chunk of the 17,000 people who live in this community earn under $20,000 a year.

On the deprivation scale, 1 being least deprived and 10 being most, Fairfield ranks 10.

Sorenson has two part-time jobs and has a primary-aged daughter living with her.

"We manage to get by. We cook a lot of our kai," she said.

"It would be good to have more options, though, because when you're low on money and need to feed a family, $5 pizzas are pretty attractive."

In the Hamilton East Area 1, which covers Sylvester, Flagstaff, Horsham Downs, Rototuna and Huntington, there are 17 takeaway shops and four shops that sell fresh produce.

Tracey Clark moved to Rototuna, one of the least deprived areas, from Enderley a year ago.

She said her son was assaulted in their old neighbourhood.

"I moved here because I felt it was safer for my children. And it is," she said.

"But the pay-off for having higher rent means I don't have much money left for food.

"It differs every week, depending on bills, but we generally have $80 to $100 for food each week."

Of the 21,000 people that live in this community, a high proportion of people are on incomes above $50,000. The Hamilton average is $27,000.

Clark works three jobs and has two children to feed, as well as three international students.

She said although there is better access to fruit and veg shops, she is sometimes unable to afford the luxury.

"There are markets every other weekend, but I've found the veges are just too expensive and gas is also too expensive, so I have to make do with what we have at the shops down the road," she said.

"It's not that I don't know what I should be eating, I just can't afford it. They need to make the healthy stuff cheaper and more available around here.

"We usually go to Countdown but some days we can't afford meat, so it's cheap pizzas down the road.

"I'd be better off moving back to Nawton - at least I would be able to afford proper food."

But it's not just the number of takeaway shops, a Waikato dietician says - they also tend to be open long hours.

"You can drive in and get a meal. You don't have to get out of the car," Nutrition Care's Niki Russell✓ said.

"You're invited to size up for only a dollar more ...

"From a financial point of view, it's sounding good. But from a health point of view, it's not a very good deal."

A burger combo would have more energy content - often fat - and fewer nutrients in it than a home-cooked meal, Russell✓ said.

A Thai takeaway with chicken, rice and vegetables would have some more goodness.

But changing people's habits would take more than upping the number of places to buy fresh produce, she said.

"If it was as easy as that, it would be great, but it's not."

People might not know how to prepare fresh produce, their children might complain about eating it, or they may think they will end up throwing it out.

Planning a certain meal ahead of time is important for home cooking, "rather than getting home after a really busy day and thinking, I've got the whole family to feed and I've got nothing in the fridge. Okay, we'll get takeaways tonight."

Russell works with clients on providing cost-effective meal suggestions and gives tips, such as using frozen vegetables in seasons when the fresh varieties get more expensive.

​WHERE TAKEAWAYS OUTNUMBER GROCERS SIX TO ONE

Hamilton residents in poorer suburbs have more fast-food joints in their neighbourhoods than those living in wealthier suburbs.

Those living in deprived areas such as Enderley have access to at least 25 takeaway spots, compared to 17 in Rototuna.

The well-heeled also have double the number of fruit and vegetable shops in their communities than their poorer neighbours.

But statistics reveal all of Hamilton is well supplied with fast-food outlets - there are at least 187, compared with 39 places to buy fresh produce.

The revelation follows a recent health workshop that revealed more than 20 per cent of Waikato children are overweight.

The workshop, run by Tamariki Ora providers and the Waikato District Health Board, discussed childhood obesity - an epidemic set to overtake tobacco next year as the leading preventable health risk.

A total of 22 separate initiatives announced by Health Minister Jonathan Coleman include referring more overweight children for dieting and exercise interventions from the age of four.

The statistics, from the 2011-2014 New Zealand Health Survey, presented a bleak outlook for Waikato children.

They show 16 per cent of Maori children under 15 are obese, compared with 5 per cent of non-Maori children.

And 32 per cent of Maori children are overweight, compared with 22 per cent of non-Maori children.

Furthermore, most parents don't recognise their children are obese, let alone overweight, Waikato DHB public health manager Deryl Penjueli said.

"This is particularly the case among those living in the most deprived areas and parents of young children," she said.

"Of concern is the ability of people to make the healthy choice the easy choice when they are surrounded by a cluster of fast-food outlets.

"It will take a shared response to address childhood obesity through collaboration, across a range of sectors that have a role to play. This is not just a role for health, but also other key sectors, to help make a difference."

However, Labour MP Sue Moroney said efforts by the government to tackle obesity have been half-hearted.

"They're making it look like they want to address the cause of obesity, but really they're not," she said.

"What the [fast-food statistics] demonstrate is that leaving the market model to its own devices has failed."

Moroney said there are layers of issues to a person's access to good-quality food.

"Good quality information is part of it, but it doesn't solve the problem. This does affect individuals and families, but as a country, it has an impact on what we are spending our taxpayer funding on, and it's going on more bad health outcomes."

Moroney said there was a substantial inquiry into the relationship between obesity and diabetes by a select committee from 2005 to 2008.

There were several recommendations to come out of that inquiry.

"The recommendations included looking at the built environment and what we could do about all the subliminal and not-so-subliminal messages that children in particular understood abut what constituted food," Moroney said.

But Hamilton City Council general manager strategy Sean Hickey said council doesn't monitor fast food outlets.

"There is no requirement or current practice to regulate food outlets, other than what is under the Food Act 2014 to regulate food safety on premises," he said.

"The council fully supports healthy living in our city and have a range of initiatives ... one initiative encourages communities to hire sporting equipment to increase their physical activities, and is targeted at communities with a focus on families."

The Hamilton findings closely mimic a recent European study of 6000 people over four years showed those living in socioeconomically deprived areas are more at risk of becoming obese. The link to lack of healthy food outlets was made.

"Urban planners and policy makers have a responsibility to ensure that the neighbourhoods they design and the facilities and businesses that the neighbourhoods contain will promote healthy behaviour, and is protective against unhealthy behaviours," said lead researcher Jeroen Lakerveld of the VU University Medical Center in Amsterdam.

"It could save millions of Euros in health care costs if health promotion focuses on upstream determinants of healthy behaviours, including healthy food purchases and greater physical activity."