Causes of Death Are Linked to a Person’s Weight
From the NYT: Causes of Death Are Linked to a Person's Weight
"Linking, for the first time, causes of death to specific weights, they report that overweight people have a lower death rate because they are much less likely to die from a grab bag of diseases that includes Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, infections and lung disease. And that lower risk is not counteracted by increased risks of dying from any other disease, including cancer, diabetes or heart disease."
So if suburbs cause obesity, and obesity reduces the death rate overall, then suburbs are good and cities bad for public health.