The types of ready-to-eat foods on a kitchen countertop could also hint at the weight of the people in the home, particularly women.
The study looked at photographs of more than 200 kitchens in Syracuse, New York, to test how the food environment relates to the body mass index (BMI) of the adults at home.
The women in the study who kept fresh fruit out in the open tended to be a normal weight compared with their peers. But when snacks like cereals and sodas were readily accessible, those people were heavier than their neighbors—by an average of more than 20 pounds.
“It’s your basic See-Food Diet—you eat what you see,” said Brian Wansink, professor and director of the Cornell Food and Brand Lab and lead author of the paper in the journal Health Education and Behavior.
The study finds that women who kept soft drinks on their counters weighed 24 to 26 pounds more than those who kept their kitchen clear of them. A box of cereal on the counter lined up with women there weighing an average 20 pounds more than their neighbors who didn’t.
“As a cereal-lover, that shocked me,” said Wansink. “Cereal has a health-halo, but if you eat a handful every time you walk by, it’s not going to make you skinny.”
When unhealthy foods are the most visible options in the kitchen, falling into habits that lead to weight gain becomes easier. Keeping those foods out of sight by sequestering them in pantries and cupboards reduces their convenience, making it less likely that they will be grabbed in a moment of hunger.
