New article in PLoS One: supermarket and excess weight

Posté le 30/03/2012 09:42

A recently published article in PLoS One examined whether the supermarket where people do most of their food shopping is associated with body weight and fat.

The study showed that the 7131 participants were shopping in 1097 different supermarkets. Almost 90% of the participants were shopping out of their immediate residential neighborhood.

The study suggests that two persons who were shopping in the same supermarket had a more similar body mass index and waist circumference than participants who were shopping in different supermarkets.

The analyses showed that shopping in specific supermarket brands, especially in specific hypermarkets and specific hard discount supermarkets, and in supermarkets attracting low educated customers was associated with a higher body mass index and a larger waist circumference.

The study also demonstrates that shopping in a hard discount supermarket was not associated with body weight and fat among participants with a high educational level, but that shopping in a hard discount was related to a higher body mass index and larger waist circumference with decreasing educational level of the participants.

These findings do not allow one to conclude to a causal effect of the primary supermarket used for food shopping. However, they suggest that supermarkets represent a relevant place to develop nutritional interventions. The study could be used to identify the supermarkets where such nutritional interventions would be most beneficial.

Catégories: Publications