Report Blames Walmart on the Obesity ‘Epidemic’
Is This a Significant 'Economic Variable?'
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How far would you go to when trying to find a blame for the obesity epidemic? A new report examining the effects of economic variables on obesity puts some of the blame for increasing waistlines on mega superstores that provide inexpensive, nutrition-less food in bulk – mega stores such as Wal-Mart supercenters in the US.
The researchers concluded that Walmart is at least partly the cause of why we’re all getting fat:
“A growing literature examines the effects of economic variables on obesity, typically focusing on only one or a few factors at a time. We build a more comprehensive economic model of body weight, combining the 1990-2010 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System with 27 state-level variables related to general economic conditions, labor supply, and the monetary or time costs of calorie intake, physical activity, and cigarette smoking.”
Going beyond the simple “eat less, exercise” more idea, and probably bypassing the role toxic chemicals play in hampering health, there’s been a lot of research into the economics of why we’re getting fat.
The percentage of the population considered overweight rose from 43% to 67% between 1960 and 2006, while the obesity rate grew from 13% to 34%, the report says, citing statistics from the National Center of Health Statistics. Meanwhile, the number of Wal-Mart supercenters has skyrocketed.
“Controlling for demographic characteristics and state and year fixed effects, changes in these economic variables collectively explain 37% of the rise in BMI, 43% of the rise in obesity, and 59% of the rise in class II/III obesity. Quantile regressions also point to large effects among the heaviest individuals, with half the rise in the 90th percentile of BMI explained by economic factors. Variables related to calorie intake – particularly restaurant and supercenter/warehouse club densities – are the primary drivers of the results.”
“We live in an environment with increasingly cheap and readily available junk food,” Charles Courtemanche, an assistant professor of economics at Georgia State University and one of the report’s co-authors, told the Washington Post. “We buy in bulk. We tend to have more food around. It takes more and more discipline and self-control to not let that influence your weight.”
“These estimates imply that the proliferation of Wal-Mart Supercenters explains 10.5% of the rise in obesity since the late 1980s,” the researchers wrote.
And yes, they really are using Walmart in the model.
“Motivated by these approaches, we instrument for supercenter/warehouse club density and restaurant density using: 1) interactions of the natural log of distance from Bentonville (measured from the centroid of each state) with each year fixed effect, and 2) the number of interstate exits per 10,000 residents in the state interacted with year fixed-effects. Interstate exit information as of May 2014 comes from http://m.roadnow.com/ and we treat exits as being fixed over time, which is likely almost the case since the original interstate highway plan was completed by 1992.”
One thing is for sure: it’s a sad truth that we have been exercising less while eating copious amounts of processed food void of nutrients. With the sprouting of Walmart Supercenters comes seemingly countless McDonald’s’ and other fast food restaurants. What’s more, a great many of the jobs today encompass hours of sitting, leaving more individuals to find free time to move around in any way, shape, or form.
The Good News
The good news is that we’re clearly moving into a health movement like no other. Whole foods market’s are also popping up everywhere, while farmers markets are seeing more exposure. The terms ‘non-gmo’ and ‘organic’ have become highly popular buzz words recently, indicating that everyone is trying to improve – which is causing some major brands and restaurants to change their ways.
I think as a collective we have begun to take back our health – let’s just keep that momentum going.
Additional Sources:
 | Mike is the co-founder, editor, and researcher behind Natural Society. Studying the work of top natural health activists, and writing special reports for top 10 alternative health websites, Mike has written hundreds of articles and pages on how to obtain optimum wellness through natural health. |
You know, I would prefer to assume that the majority of consumers have half the sense God gave to a head of lettuce and know what is best for them…after looking at some “people of Walmart” photos…I don’t know any more.
Are there any research groups out there that could find the root causes of “bad fashion” sense?
Hey lady, yeah you with the “pot belly”…please, don’t wear a skin-tight top, or spandex that only covers 3/4 of your rear! This also applies to males too.
Perhaps someday, a research group will find a cause for these atrocities! OMG!
Yes, it’s not the “source” that is to blame, but it’s the “individual”.
We as conscious, intelligent, male and female citizens of the U.S.A. (and the world) are responsible for our own actions and their results. Yes, no one else but you.
Just saying.
Oh BTW, to the research group that came out with this study, I have a question for you…Do you plan on a future study that may actually “benefit” humanity…anytime soon?
Just asking.
Mike: Your grammar is horrifying. Try harder.
Nothing in this report says what the customers purchased or consumed. It’s all proximity modeling. Now the author of this blog is taking that “model” since that is all it is, and white-washing it. Now the next step is to give it to some NGO who tries to sue Walmart for making people fat, or to make protester signs who stand outside of Walmart claiming that unionizing will pressure them to change their evil white ways.
Talk about correlation doesn’t always equal causation