Observational studyPublic health nutrition2015
Do supermarkets contribute to the obesity pandemic in developing countries?
Observational study in Public health nutrition, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 32 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
32 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Obesogenicity of food in the informal food retail environment of low- and middle-income countries: a systematic review.BMJ global health · 2025Pooled it
- Neighborhood supermarket access and childhood obesity: A systematic review.Obesity reviews : an official journal of the International Association for the Study of Obesity · 2021Pooled it
- Community-level interventions for improving access to food in low- and middle-income countries.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2020Pooled it
- Community-level interventions for improving access to food in low- and middle-income countries.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2020Pooled it
- The effect of food environment on nutrition-related health: evidence from rural China.Journal of health, population, and nutrition · 2025Article
- The promotion of ultra-processed foods in modern retail food outlets in rural and urban areas in Kenya.Public health nutrition · 2024Article
- Drivers of consumer food choices of multinational corporations' products over local foods in Ghana: a maximum difference scaling study.Globalization and health · 2024Article
- Centering context when characterizing food environments: the potential of participatory mapping to inform food environment research.Frontiers in nutrition · 2024Article
- From clicks to calories: Online-to-offline food consumption and overweight and obesity.PloS one · 2024Article
- A systematic review of the adolescent-directed marketing strategies of transnational fast food companies in low- and middle-income countries.Obesity science & practice · 2023Review
- The health and economic impact and cost effectiveness of interventions for the prevention and control of overweight and obesity in Kenya: a stakeholder engaged modelling study.Cost effectiveness and resource allocation : C/E · 2023Article
- Harnessing the connectivity of climate change, food systems and diets: Taking action to improve human and planetary health.Anthropocene · 2023Review
- Trends in food and beverage purchases in informal, mixed, and formal food outlets in Mexico: ENIGH 1994-2020.Frontiers in public health · 2023Article
- From Ampesie to French fries: systematising the characteristics, drivers and impacts of diet change in rapidly urbanising Accra.Sustainability science · 2022Article
- Food environments and obesity: A geospatial analysis of the South Asia Biobank, income and sex inequalities.SSM - population health · 2022Article
- Foodscapes, finance, and faith: Multi-sectoral stakeholder perspectives on the local population health and wellbeing in an urbanizing area in Kenya.Frontiers in public health · 2022Article
- Attitude of Nutrition Experts Toward Psychotherapy and Virtual Reality as Part of Obesity Treatment-An Online Survey.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2022Article
- Associations of a National Tax on Non-Essential High Calorie Foods with Changes in Consumer Prices.Food policy · 2022Article
- Cross-Sectional Association of Food Source with Food Insecurity, Dietary Diversity and Body Mass Index in Western Kenya.Nutrients · 2021Article
- The Processed food revolution in African food systems and the Double Burden of Malnutrition.Global food security · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveMany developing countries are undergoing a nutrition transition with rising rates of overweight and obesity. This nutrition transition coincides with a rapid expansion of supermarkets. The objective of the present research is to study whether supermarkets directly contribute to overweight and other changes in nutritional status.
designThis research builds on cross-sectional observational data. Household- and individual-level data were collected in Kenya using a quasi-experimental survey design. Instrumental variable regressions were employed to analyse the impact of supermarket purchase on nutritional status. Causal chain models were estimated to examine pathways through which supermarkets affect nutrition.
settingSmall towns in Central Province of Kenya with and without supermarkets. SUBJECTS: A total of 615 adults and 216 children and adolescents.
resultsControlling for other factors, buying in a supermarket is associated with a significantly higher BMI (P=0·018) and a higher probability of overweight (P=0·057) among adults. This effect is not observed for children and adolescents. Instead, buying in a supermarket seems to reduce child undernutrition measured by height-for-age Z-score (P=0·017). Impacts of supermarkets depend on many factors including people's initial nutritional status. For both adults and children, the nutrition effects occur through higher food energy consumption and changes in dietary composition.
conclusionsSupermarkets and their food sales strategies contribute to changing food consumption habits and nutritional outcomes. Yet the types of outcomes differ by age cohort and initial nutritional status. Simple conclusions on whether supermarkets are good or bad for nutrition and public health are not justified.
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