Junk Food At Retail Store Checkout Counters Could Be Fueling Obesity Epidemic

December 17, 2009: 05:40 AM EST

Candy, soda and other junk food that is widely available in stores not usually associated with food could be contributing to the obesity epidemic by tempting people to buy high-calorie snacks they might normally avoid, according to researchers who looked at more than 1,000 non-food retail stores across the United States. Forty-one percent of the stores sold candy, soft drinks, and snacks “often within arm's reach of the cash register queue.” Snack foods were sold at nearly all drug stores and gas stations and at a majority of general merchandise, hardware, and garden stores, and automobile repair shops.

Thomas A. Farley, MD, MPH, Erin T. Baker, MS, et al., "The Ubiquity of Energy-Dense Snack Foods: A National Multicity Study", American Journal of Public Health, December 17, 2009, © American Public Health Association

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