Title: Cheap Food Blamed for America's Obesity Crisis
Headings: Cheap Food Blamed for America's Obesity Crisis
Cheap Food Blamed for America's Obesity Crisis
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While Sturm allows that Americans could eat more fruits and vegetables, he argues that wouldn't make them any thinner. That's because fruits and veggies wouldn't replace other, less healthy, choices, they would simply be consumed in addition to everything else. But cost doesn't paint a full picture, says Marion Nestle, a professor in the Department of Nutrition, Food Studies, and Public Health at New York University, who was not involved in the research. "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," she said, noting that the cost of fruits and vegetables has gone up more than the average food cost. "The higher prevalence of obesity among people of lower income and education can be explained by greater consumption of low-cost, high-calorie foods." Other factors that seem to play into the obesity epidemic are the rise of electronic entertainment, increased reliance on cars and a shift away from physical jobs to more desk-bound ones. Although Americans aren't spending more time at work and have more leisure time today, they do spend more of that time sedentary, the researchers found. Sturm may have offered up a new target, but he doesn't have a silver bullet to aim at it.