Economics
The Economy Is Making You Fat
New research has connected food costs and the retail mix to the surge in U.S. obesity rates
A growing body of medical research at leading universities and government agencies suggests that processed foods and sugary drinks can hijack the brain in ways that resemble addictions to nicotine and other drugs.
Photographer: David Paul Morris/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
And you thought it was mom's chocolate-chip cookies.
A new National Bureau of Economic Research working paper posits that economic factors—such as the cost of food and the type of jobs in your state—can affect weight gain. These variables, controlled for demographics, explain 37 percent of the increase in Body Mass Index in the U.S. from 1990 to 2010, as well as 59 percent of the rise in severe obesity, the paper finds.