Research
Adherence
The presence of markets (grocery stores) in one's local food environment is negatively associated with obesity and abdominal obesity, although this association may not be significant when accounting for city-level clustering.
Having grocery stores nearby is associated with a lower risk of obesity, although this effect might be influenced by broader city-level factors. If you have access to markets, use them to stock up on healthy foods. However, be aware that your overall city environment also plays a role.
ModerateQualifiesMEDIUM confidence
The presence of markets was negatively associated with obesity BMI (0.97 [0.95-0.99])... Similarly, the presence of markets was negatively associated with abdominal obesity (0.93 [0.91-0.95]).
Why this rating
Large sample size, but the effect was not robust across all statistical models (lost significance with clustering adjustment).
Source
The Local Food Environment and Obesity: Evidence from Three Cities
Blake Byron Walker et al. · Obesity · 2019
DOI 10.1002/oby.22614
cross_sectional · n=8076Cited 61×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
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