New, nearby convenience stores can lead to weight gain

New, nearby convenience stores can lead to weight gain


For some people, the neighborhood convenience store is an essential part of life. But new research shows it can also have a drastic impact on children’s weight.

In one of the few studies of its kind to track the effects of food outlets offerings on children, researchers at Arizona State University found that whether the resulting weight change was good or bad largely depended on the types of food being sold. They tracked two groups of children between the ages of 3 and 15 in four New Jersey cities over three multiyear periods.

The idea was to look for relationships between children’s weight and changes in food offerings at local stores. At the time, the four cities where the children were studied had been making policy and environmental changes to prevent childhood obesity. That provided an ideal opportunity to study children’s relationship to changes in the food supply.

The researchers looked at a variety of factors, including the number of food outlets near the study participants’ homes as well as upgrades and changes to those stores.

They found that every new convenience store within a mile resulted in a nearly 12% increase in the chance of a higher body mass index for the affected children. For every new small grocery store, the odds of a higher body mass index fell by more than 37%. Differences in the prevalence of pharmacies, supermarkets and restaurants produced no discernible weight-change patterns.

The researchers hope the findings will encourage convenience stores to consider diversifying their offerings. For parents, it’s an opportunity to think about what their child might be buying on their next trip to the corner store.

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