Where You Shop for Food May Affect Your Weight, Study Finds
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George Doyle/Stockbyte(SEATTLE) — If you buy your food in a high-priced supermarket, you may be doing your health a favor.
Researchers from the University of Washington in Seattle believe that people who regularly shop in stores where food is discounted will have a greater tendency to become obese than shoppers who purchase products at more high-end grocery outlets.
Studying the shopping habits of King County, Wash., residents as well as their demographics, education and income, the researchers concluded that obesity levels were tied to the supermarkets they regularly went to rather than the proximity of the store.
The differences were stark. Approximately 27 percent of those who shopped at markets that featured the lowest prices were obese, while only 9 percent who went to the higher-priced stores were severely overweight.
While it’s not practical for many low-to-mid income families to shop somewhere else than their usual haunts, the researchers recommended that greater efforts should be made so that healthier and affordable food is available to them.
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