New research from the National Bureau of Economic Research says raising the prices on caloric foods by 10 percent may lower the percentage of body fat in youths by 8 or 9 percent.
The research focuses on youths and says that low prices affect obesity and that raising fast-food prices would help curb the problem.
During the study, researchers looked at measures of body fat from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, a program of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the prices of 21 grocery items, as well as the prices for three different fast-food items.
Males, females, whites and non-whites all reacted differently to the increased prices.
Males tended to react better to raising the price of fast-food meals while a rise in fruit and vegetable prices garnered more of a reaction in females.
