Tell me where you do your shopping, I’ll tell you how heavy you are. Without being a new refrain, this association would not be that absurd, according to a study by the National Institute of Health and Medical Research (Inserm). The survey, published in the journal PlosOne, shows a link between the places where customers get their supplies and their excess weight. Depending on whether you are a hard-discount supermarket consumer or regular in organic shop, we would not be housed in the same boat, suggests the Inserm team. The researchers looked at the food shopping habits and places of a panel of 7131 people living in ten Parisian districts and 111 suburban towns.
Among the data also taken into account, the characteristics of the stores (type, size) and information on the socio-economic profile of the people surveyed such as the level of education or income, the district of residence, etc.
Supermarkets: new places to prevent obesity?
Results, people who frequent the same store have a similar metabolic profile. Conversely, between two different brands, customers will have a larger body mass index (BMI) and abdominal perimeter. The example given by the study is particularly striking: hard discount customers have a waist circumference of 2.2 cm wider than those of Monoprix, a supermarket taken as a benchmark by the researchers.
Faced with these conclusions, one can wonder: is the hard discount of poor quality? Should we boycott hard discount brands for fear of growing? Basile Chaix, in charge of the research project, refrains from any hasty conclusions: “One can wonder if certain brands constitute an unfavorable food environment or if the associations observed are linked to a defect of adjustment of our model which does not take into account food preferences, “he explains on the Inserm website. New investigations should be made to find out.
Without speaking of the determinism between supermarket signs and the eating behavior of customers, this Inserm study highlights the interest of supermarkets in carrying out preventive actions on nutrition. “Interventions […] useful in tackling the epidemic ofobesity and its unequal distribution “, concludes Basile Chaix.
>> To read also: Where do overweight and obesity begin?
>> To read also: Hard discount: advice for healthy eating
>> To read also: It’s better to eat organic, we tell you why
