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Too Much Food and Too Little Sidewalk? Problematizing the Obesogenic Environment Thesis

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  • Julie Guthman

    (Division of Social Sciences, University of California, Santa Cruz, 1156 High Street, Santa Cruz, CA 95064, USA)

Abstract

The obesogenic environment thesis is that increased prevalence of obesity is because people are surrounded by cheap, fast, nutritionally inferior food and a built environment that discourages physical activity. This thesis has animated various planning, advocacy, and educational interventions to address these obesogenic qualities. However, studies designed to test the thesis have generated inconclusive or marginal results, and the more robust findings may be based on spurious correlations. Part of the problem is methodological: researchers embed many assumptions in their models and derive causality from unexamined correlation. As such, they neglect the possibility that features of the built environment may be as much an effect of sociospatial patterning as a cause. In addition, in embedding taken-for-granted assumptions about the causes of obesity—namely, the energy-balance model—these studies foreclose alternative explanations, including the possible role of environmental toxins. This approach to studying the obesogenic environment is a textbook example of problem closure, in which a specific definition of a problem and socially acceptable solutions are used to frame the study of the problem's causes and consequences.

Suggested Citation

  • Julie Guthman, 2013. "Too Much Food and Too Little Sidewalk? Problematizing the Obesogenic Environment Thesis," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 45(1), pages 142-158, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:envira:v:45:y:2013:i:1:p:142-158
    DOI: 10.1068/a45130
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Andrew J. Plantinga & Stephanie Bernell, 2005. "A Spatial Economic Analysis of Urban Land Use and Obesity," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 45(3), pages 473-492, August.
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    Cited by:

    1. Mi Namgung & B. Elizabeth Mercado Gonzalez & Seungwoo Park, 2019. "The Role of Built Environment on Health of Older Adults in Korea: Obesity and Gender Differences," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(18), pages 1-13, September.
    2. Farrell, Lucy C. & Warin, Megan J. & Moore, Vivienne M. & Street, Jackie M., 2016. "Socio-economic divergence in public opinions about preventive obesity regulations: Is the purpose to ‘make some things cheaper, more affordable’ or to ‘help them get over their own ignorance’?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 154(C), pages 1-8.
    3. María Sandín Vázquez & Jesús Rivera & Paloma Conde & Marta Gutiérrez & Julia Díez & Joel Gittelsohn & Manuel Franco, 2019. "Social Norms Influencing the Local Food Environment as Perceived by Residents and Food Traders: The Heart Healthy Hoods Project," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(3), pages 1-13, February.
    4. Kolodinsky, Jane M. & Battista, Geoffrey & Roche, Erin & Lee, Brian H.Y. & Johnson, Rachel K., 2017. "Estimating the effect of mobility and food choice on obesity in a rural, northern environment," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 30-39.
    5. Fernando J. Bosco & Pascale Joassart-Marcelli, 2018. "Relational space and place and food environments: geographic insights for critical sustainability research," Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences, Springer;Association of Environmental Studies and Sciences, vol. 8(4), pages 539-546, December.

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