Why supermarkets are making us fat

As you load up the car boot with shopping bags from your weekly trip to the supermarket, have you ever thought about how that particular supermarket you shop at might affect your health? Two studies published this year suggest a link between how often people go shopping and the healthiness of the food they buy. Apparently, evidence suggests the size of a supermarket prompts us to shop less often and buy more on each trip. Could the enormity of our shops be making us fat?

Loving large
In India, like in Western countries, the supermarkets are getting bigger as we want all the options, all in one place. A recent study of eight wealthy countries found that New Zealand, the US and Australia had the biggest supermarkets. Perhaps, it’s no coincidence that those countries have some of the highest prevalence of obesity.

In fact, the research found an almost perfect correlation between how big a country’s supermarkets were and the number of obese people in that country.

Here are a few ways in which big supermarkets might be bad for our health:
When we shop less often, we may be less likely to buy fresh food because it spoils quicker.

We tend to buy more in bulk, bringing home more food than we need.

Our cupboards and pantries become full of food, encouraging us to eat when we are not hungry.

We use cars to get to large shops, meaning less physical activity than if we had walked, cycled or used public transport.

We’re overwhelmed by choice in large stores, potentially making us more susceptible to marketing tactics and displays that encourage impulse purchasing decisions.

The wrong style
Shops are increasingly set up to encourage a style of shopping that prioritises convenience and car use. We know that our ever-expanding urban footprint encourages car travel over active forms of transport, but it now appears it may be impacting our diet too. With big supermarkets facilitating greater convenience and lower prices for customers, it’s unlikely there will a push for smaller stores any time soon.

The solution
First, continued improvement to public transport, such as better bus connections to major supermarkets, could make it easier to leave the car at home when going shopping. It would also encourage buying less (but more often) because everything has to be carried home.

The use of zoning regulations, lower tax rates or other incentives could be explored to encourage small businesses, such as green grocers and delis, to open in neighbourhood areas.

Perhaps most importantly, our large supermarkets could be encouraged to do better than heavily promoting the unhealthy foods we know to be the main drivers of the obesity epidemic. It is certainly possible to have a healthier food environment in a large supermarket.

www.theconversation.com