Which causal chain most plausibly explains how low food security can contribute to obesity in a community?

• A. Low income limits food budgets → cheaper, energy-dense processed foods are purchased more often → diets become high in calories but low in quality → increased population-level obesity risk.
• B. Because food insecurity and obesity are unrelated phenomena, community obesity rates rise only due to genetic predisposition unrelated to diet quality or price.
• C. Low food security causes immediate starvation across the household → starvation triggers binge-eating behavior that directly produces obesity within days, independent of food availability or diet composition.
• D. Food insecurity forces high-income households to adopt rationing habits that protect them from obesity, so low food security is inversely correlated with weight gain uniformly across all populations.

Answer: (A)