Over 30 percent of American adults are obese–and that number is expected to grow.
Researchers now have identified a new reason obesity rates are continuing to soar, and it’s not a reason you’d expect.
According to research from Ohio State University, people who kept food visible throughout the house were more likely to become obese, as well as consume unhealthy foods such as sweets, snack foods, and other types of processed foods. People who did not make their food easily accessible were more likely to have a normal weight, however.
It’s a troubling find for Charles Emery, lead author of the study.
“The amount of food in the homes was similar, but in the homes of obese individuals, food was distributed in more locations outside the kitchen,” says Emery, a professor of psychology at Ohio State University. “That speaks to the environment being arranged in a way that may make it harder to avoid eating food. That has not been clearly documented before.”
Published in the International Journal of Obesity, researchers recruited a group of 100 participants between the ages of 20 to 78, some of whom were clinically obese. Researchers interviewed them about their eating habits in a two-hour home visit, looking for visible signs of food around the house, examining where their food was stored, and asking them about their usual food intake. From here, researchers measured spots where they spent the most time at home, examining if it was in close proximity to easily accessible foods.
As it turned out, the obese participants often had food that was easier to access–and oftentimes, was available in plain sight.
“I do think the home environment is a really important place to focus on since that’s where most people spend a majority of their time,” says Emery. “For interventions, we should be thinking about the home as a place to start helping people establish what we know to be healthier habits and behaviors.”
Emery hopes to establish dietary interventions in the future that address how to reduce eating at home.
“You can’t just stop eating, but ideally you can change the way you eat and, to some degree, change the way you’re thinking about eating,” says Emery.
What This Means For You
It’s hard resisting the urge to eat–but now research shows one major reason why. To limit how much you eat, it’s time to keep your favorite foods hidden away from you; after all, if you can’t see it, it won’t distract you. Keeping “bad” foods out of the house, such as sweets, is also a good strategy for limiting how much food you eat.
Readers: What other strategies do you use to limit your food intake?
Sources:
Keeping Food Visible Throughout the House is Linked to Obesity – ScienceDaily.com
Home Environment and Psychosocial Predictors of Obesity Status Among Community-Residing Men and Women (Study) – Nature.com
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