Evidence map›Paper›PMID 27256685›Full record

SynthesisObesity reviews : an official journal of the International Association for the Study of Obesity2016

Unhealthy diets, obesity and time discounting: a systematic literature review and network analysis.

Pepita Barlow, Aaron Reeves, Martin McKee, Gauden Galea, David Stuckler

Abstract readSystematic Review
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Synthesis in Obesity reviews : an official journal of the International Association for the Study of Obesity, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 82 papers, 10 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
82citing papers in PubMed, 10 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

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.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

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.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

82 citing papers in PubMed, 10 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.

  1. Pooled it
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  4. Delay discounting of different outcomes: Review and theory.Journal of the experimental analysis of behavior · 2020
    Pooled it
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  10. Unhealthy diets, obesity and time discounting: a systematic literature review and network analysis.Obesity reviews : an official journal of the International Association for the Study of Obesity · 2016
    Pooled it
  11. Trial
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  15. The Genoeconomics of Impulsive Intertemporal Choice: A Critical Review.Journal of the experimental analysis of behavior · 2026
    Review
  16. Article
  17. Review
  18. Article
  19. Chain Restaurant Calorie Posting Laws, Obesity, and Consumer Welfare.Journal of the European Economic Association · 2025
    Article
  20. Article

22 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors.

Pepita BarlowDepartment of Sociology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
Aaron ReevesInternational Inequalities Institute, London School of Economics, London, UK.
Martin McKeeDepartment of Public Health and Policy, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK.
Gauden GaleaDivision of Noncommunicable Diseases and Life-course, Regional Office for Europe, World Health Organization, Copenhagen, Denmark.
David StucklerDepartment of Sociology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.

Funding

World Health Organization 001
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

There is an increasing policy commitment to address the avoidable burdens of unhealthy diet, overweight and obesity. However, to design effective policies, it is important to understand why people make unhealthy dietary choices. Research from behavioural economics suggests a critical role for time discounting, which describes how people's value of a reward, such as better health, decreases with delay to its receipt. We systematically reviewed the literature on the relationship of time discounting with unhealthy diets, overweight and obesity in Web of Science and PubMed. We identified 41 studies that met our inclusion criteria as they examined the association between time discount rates and (i) unhealthy food consumption; (ii) overweight and (iii) response to dietary and weight loss interventions. Nineteen out of 25 cross-sectional studies found time discount rates positively associated with overweight, obesity and unhealthy diets. Experimental studies indicated that lower time discounting was associated with greater weight loss. Findings varied by how time discount rates were measured; stronger results were observed for food than monetary-based measurements. Network co-citation analysis revealed a concentration of research in nutrition journals. Overall, there is moderate evidence that high time discounting is a significant risk factor for unhealthy diets, overweight and obesity and may serve as an important target for intervention. © 2016 The Authors Obesity Reviews published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of International Association for the Study of Obesity (IASO).

Indexed as

Delay DiscountingDietChoice BehaviorFood PreferencesHumansObesityOverweightWeight Lossdietsobesityoverweighttime discount

Identifiers

PMID27256685
PMCPMC4988386

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.