Howard et al. BMC Public Health 2011, 11:68 http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2458/11/68 39. Craypo L, Purcell A, Samuels SE, Agron P, Bell E, Takada E: Fast food sales on high school campuses: results from the 2000 California high school fast food survey. J Sch Health 2002, 72:78-82. 40. Wiecha JL, Finkelstein D, Troped PJ, Fragala M, Peterson KE: School vending machine use and fast-food restaurant use are associated with sugar-sweetened beverage intake in youth. J Am Diet Assoc 2006, 106:1624-1630. 41. Spear BA, Barlow SE, Ervin C, Ludwig DS, Saelens BE, Schetzina KE, Taveras EM: Recommendations for treatment of child and adolescent overweight and obesity. Pediatrics 2007, 120(Suppl 4):S254-88. 42. Creel JS, Sharkey JR, McIntosh A, Anding J, Huber JCJ: Availability of healthier options in traditional and nontraditional rural fast-food outlets. BMC Public Health 2008, 8:395. 43. Rose D, Bodor JN, Hutchinson PL, Swalm CM: The importance of a multi- dimensional approach for studying the links between food access and consumption. J Nutr 2010, 140:1170-1174. 44. Subramanian SV, Jones K, Duncan C: Multilevel models for public health research. In Neighborhoods and Health. Edited by: Kawachi I, Berkman LF. New York: Oxford University Press; 2003:65-111. Pre-publication history The pre-publication history for this paper can be accessed here: http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2458/11/68/prepub doi:10.1186/1471-2458-11-68 Cite this article as: Howard et al.: Proximity of food retailers to schools and rates of overweight ninth grade students: an ecological study in California. BMC Public Health 2011 11:68. Page 8 of 8 Submit your next manuscript to BioMed Central and take full advantage of: • Convenient online submission • Thorough peer review • No space constraints or color ﬁgure charges • Immediate publication on acceptance • Inclusion in PubMed, CAS, Scopus and Google Scholar • Research which is freely available for redistribution Submit your manuscript at www.biomedcentral.com/submit