A new study from researchers at the RAND Corporation and the Pardee RAND Graduate School, a growing number of Americans are becoming obese because of cheap and easily accessible food. Results of the study show that all demographics including people from all genders, economic classes, races and education levels are gaining weight at relatively around the same rate.
According to a new study from researchers at the RAND Corporation and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, a growing number of Americans are becoming obese because of cheap and easily accessible food.
Results of the study show that regardless of gender, economic class, race, geographic location and education levels, people are gaining weight at relatively the same rate.
According to the study, the other factor that has also changed across the board is how much Americans are spending on food.
Statistics show that Americans are spending less and less of their disposable income on what they eat.
These days, food budgets comprise around ten percent of most people’s spending, compared to 25 percent in the 1930s, and one fifth in the 1950s.
However, Marion Nestle, a professor in the Department of Nutrition, Food Studies, and Public Health at New York University, adds to the author’s findings, saying : “This study attributes obesity to only one cause: low food prices. It does not discuss relentless marketing of cheap 'junk' foods, nor does it discuss Consumer Price Index data on the relative cost of foods.”
Other research suggests multiple factors such as poverty, portion size, a lack of exercise and healthy foods are contributing to the skyrocketing rate of obesity. One possible solution from the RAND study is to implement economic incentives such as taxing unhealthy foods.
