Junk Food City

by Michael Long

Forbes magazine recently released a list of the 20 cities with the highest per capita junk food consumption.  The magazine used data from Nielsen ScanTrack to analyze per capita junk food sales in 52 markets in the U.S., finding that Oklahoma City had the highest consumption of junk food products, followed by Pittsburgh, Memphis, Little Rock and St. Louis.  Most of the cities on the list are in the Midwest or the South, which the magazine notes coincides with higher regional rates of obesity.

A few things in the magazine’s presentation of the data caught my eye.  The data only include sales from supermarkets with sales of $2 million per year.  While these data are easier to collect, it ignores the junk food sold in smaller stores or fast food restaurants in urban areas without supermarkets, potentially biasing the study to find higher sales outside of the East Coast. 

Looking for a positive spin on the story, the magazine highlighted recent efforts to improve school nutrition standards as a response to high junk food consumption.  I strongly support improving school nutrition standards, but I don’t think that relying only on school-based solutions addresses the broader reasons for high junk-food consumption. 

I did not expect Forbes to bring up the topic, but I wonder what a junk food tax combined with subsidies for healthy food and community-level educational outreach would do to reduce junk food consumption.

Comments

[steve]

A junk food tax is another "sin tax" like alcohol and tobacco.

That's a door I don't want to open. Next will be a tax on fast food restaurants, buffets and my local ice cream shop. It's kinda funny, but scary as well.

[Michael Long]

The difference between my perspective and yours is that I don't think smoking or drinking alcohol or eating too much junk food is a sin.

Reducing the deadly effects of smoking or creating financial incentives to improve population diet is about supporting a healthy community, not about judging people.

Check out this article, which reviews the effect of New York City's cigarette tax and smoking cessation campaign: http://www.cdc.gov/MMWR/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5624a4.htm

[Robin]

I think alcohol and tobacco taxes are quite different from a proposed junk food tax. You don't *have* to smoke or drink alcohol in order to survive. You do, however, have to eat.

I'm all for encouraging healthy eating behaviors, and maybe a junk food tax could be part of a strategy for getting us there. But it would have to be paired with other measures, such as education and subsidies for healthy foods as you mentioned.

Unfortunately, that never seems to be the way these things work. I could see our government slapping a tax on junk food without ensuring that people who live in food deserts will, in fact, have access to healthier foods. It seems that poor people always bear the brunt of these well-meaning but sometimes misguided attempts to shape behavior, and the results are often not what you would anticipate or desire.

Just a thought.

[weight loss]

Found your blog looking for resources on weight loss online, very constructive resource, thank you and wishing you all the best. Abe,

[Darin]

It is obvious that the midwest and the south have higher junk food consumption rates. Anyone with eyes and a brain (and has travelled the U.S.) would know this.