Consumers who take cash to the shops and leave their debit cards at home are more likely to leave junk food on the shelves, U.S. scientists have discovered.

The study carried out by Cornell University and the University at Buffalo analysed the shopping behaviour of 1,000 households. They found that supermarket trolleys had a larger proportion of junk food items when the shopper was using credit or debit cards rather than cash.

'Two factors contribute to this intriguing effect,' the authors explained. 'First, there is a correlation between unhealthiness and impulsiveness of food items: unhealthy food items tend to elicit impulsive responses.

'Second, cash payments are psychologically more painful than card payments, and this pain of payment can curb the impulsive responses to buy unhealthy food items.'

They even suggested that there may even be a connection between rising obesity levels in western countries and changing modes of payment.

相關(guān)中文：

根據(jù)美國科學(xué)家的研究，用刷卡購物的人比用現(xiàn)金購物的更容易購買垃圾食品，也就是說，更容易發(fā)胖啦！

根據(jù)康奈爾大學(xué)和水牛城大學(xué)對美國1000戶普通家庭的調(diào)查，研究人員發(fā)現(xiàn)，當(dāng)人們刷卡付錢的時候，購物車?yán)锢称返谋嚷蚀蟠蟾哂谟矛F(xiàn)金購物的人。

?研究人員說：“造成這個有趣現(xiàn)象的原因很多，首先不健康是和對食物的沖動緊密相連的，不健康的食物種類可以引發(fā)沖動的反應(yīng)；第二，使用現(xiàn)金付款比用信用卡付款給人心理上造成的痛苦更多，因此用現(xiàn)金消費(fèi)引發(fā)的痛苦會抑制大家購買垃圾食品的沖動性。”

美國科學(xué)家甚至認(rèn)為，造成西方人普遍肥胖的原因之一就是他們都刷卡付錢，這個方式造成了人民的肥胖——根據(jù)2008年英國的數(shù)據(jù)統(tǒng)計，1/4的英國人都體重超標(biāo)——如果改變一下消費(fèi)方式呢？

大家可以觀察一下，是不是瘦人一般用現(xiàn)金比較多？而胖子一般都刷卡？