While we can’t blame any one company for our burgeoning waistlines, a paper published by the National Bureau of Economic Research suggests that Big Box stores like Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club, as well as the prevalence of restaurants, may be a huge contributing factor to American’s weight gain.
The group of economists who conducted the study suggest that with processed food being cheaper and more readily available (at least when bought from mega stores like Walmart), we simply eat more of it. Co-author Charles Courtemanche, a health economist at Georgia State University, thinks that, “at least a sizable portion of the rise in obesity can be characterized as responses to economic incentives.” But that initial assumption can be deceiving.
It is more likely the kinds of cheap food that are available which are making us sick and fat.
The study goes on to point out that restaurants and Big Box stores are extremely effective at delivering convenience and junk foods which are loaded with fat. (These foods also happened to be loaded with other toxic products like MSG, GMOs, and high-fructose corn syrup which all have also been linked with higher obesity rates.)
Comparing data compiled from more than two dozen different economic and demographic factors, the researchers found that the density of restaurants and large-scale food retailers in particular areas was a major factor between 1990 and 2010 in the nationwide rise of obesity and BMI (body mass index) which measures weight against an individual’s height. The researchers found that there were far more obese people (those who were more than 50% overweight) in these Big Box and restaurant-dense areas.
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.”
Some larger chain stores are changing the types of foods that will be available to Americans, likely in response to consumer demand. One example is Target, which expects to roll out with thousands of new organic, healthy, and sustainable products in the next year. This will prove that convenience and cheaper prices don’t necessarily have to mean a tendency toward an obese nation.
Additional Sources:
Image courtesy of: BusinessInsider
Johnny must be taking the day off to pass up on this one. He won’t be able to pass up answering me though.
Except
that they’re not. There’s a difference between enabling and forcing,
which “making us” is forcing, but these companies are enabling.
A very valid point Ronald. If enough people started bitching about how upside down that Farm Bills are, maybe good food would be cheaper and all that chemical factory pharmed crap would cost more. The market rules, most people can only afford to buy subsidized foods. With taxes not being taken out for this, most could afford the better foods. The government has no right to tip the scales in big AG’s favor.! Aint that right Bobo? After all we are a Republic!
Obviously you have not seen the last farm bill have you? Secondly, there is a large group of farmers that simply wish the government would get out of it. Third the government does have the right to govern we voted them into office to lead, not to follow the whims of the people.
“Your representative owes you, not his industry only, but his judgment; and he betrays instead of serving you if he sacrifices it to your opinion.”
Edmund Burke
Bobo want a cracker?
Farm Bill 101
EXECUTIVE&SUMMARY
Our current food system is broken, and it did not
happen by accident. Many people do not have access
to safe, nutritious, a!ordable food; many farmers can’t
make a living; many regions of the country no longer
produce the food they consume; and large-scale industrial
agriculture pollutes our soil and water. Decades
of misguided farm policy designed by agribusiness,
combined with unchecked corporate consolidation, have
wreaked havoc on family farmers, public health and
rural communities.
Independent farmers have been sold out by an
agricultural policy that favors the overproduction of
commodity crops like corn and soybeans, often driving
down their price. Deregulation has left farmers vulnerable
to wild swings in the price of corn, soybeans and
wheat, lowering farmers’ earnings for most of the last
15 years. Meanwhile, agribusiness buyers — graintrading
companies, meatpackers and food manufacturers
that use soybeans and corn in processed foods —
reap huge pro”ts from this system that promotes cheap
commodity crops. Farm policy has continued to rely on
exports to absorb excess supplies of bargain basementpriced
crops, while failing to address the real problems
at home, including high land prices, high debt and
weakened safety nets for farmers.
http://documents.foodandwaterwatch.org/doc/FarmBill101Report.pdf
Lol, if farmers are broke then how can they afford the high land prices bonzo? Lol, we are coming off the most profitable stretch in history for farmers, and you try to make it sound otherwise? You obviously know very little about agriculture.
Obviously you have no idea what a family farm is do you Bobo?
Love your cameo.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ftgAG3Vnif8
Unfortunately, he is right this time
Thank you Jason.
Yea Big Box stores are making you fat, not the fact that you refuse to get off the couch to exercise.
All I can tell you is that there is a conspiracy, and, it’s against you.
It is lack of personal restraint…all people can afford NOT to buy chips, cookies, ice cream, soda, beer ect. Most could afford to stop eating for a month or so. Buy fruits, vegetables and meats…give up those crappy GMO cereals and pus filled milk & get up and feed your kids a piece of fruit and a couple of eggs for breakfast AND a glass of water. ( most all of you are chronically dehydrated)