Cut-price shopping at Lidl puts on pounds, study reveals

SHOPPING at Lidl may provide fat discounts but is also associated with pounds that are better shed than saved, a study has shown.

Customers of cut-price supermarkets are likely to be heavier and fatter than those who shop at expensive city centre stores, say researchers.

The French study, which named Lidl as an example of a “hard discount” supermarket, found a similar trend among people who visited stores far from where they lived.

Discount shopping was associated with higher body mass index (BMI) and waist circumference even after adjusting for social background and distance from the store. However, the link was stronger among shoppers with a poorer education.

Efforts to improve eating habits, such as promoting healthy foods, should target specific shops, the scientists suggest.

The study, published in the online journal Public Library of Science ONE, was conducted in Paris between 2007 and 2008.

A total of 7,131 people shopping in more than 1,000 supermarkets were surveyed.

Researchers compared customers from a range of Parisian shops, including the upmarket Monoprix chain, “hypermarkets” such as Cora, and the “hard discount” stores Aldi and Lidl.

The team led by Dr Basile Chaix, from the Inserm research institute in Paris, wrote: “After controlling for individual and neighbourhood socio-economic status and distance to the supermarket, and using Monoprix (expensive, city centre supermarkets) as the referent, participants shopping in certain supermarket brands, especially in hard discount supermarkets such as Lidl, had a greater BMI.”