Washington, Dec 31 (IANS) Easy availability of candy, salty snacks and sweetened beverages at retail stores not specialising in foodstuffs, is driving a raging obesity epidemic.

Researchers found that snack food was available in 41 percent of the stores, the most common forms being candy (33 percent), followed by sweetened beverages (20 percent) and salty snacks (17 percent).

Study authors Thomas A. Farley, Erin T. Baker and others from Tulane University School of Public Health, found snacks in 96 percent pharmacies, 94 percent gas stations, 22 percent furniture stores, 16 percent apparel stores and 29-65 percent of other stores.

'The obesity epidemic in the United States is estimated to be responsible for more than 100,000 deaths per year, 20 times the estimated 5,000 deaths from food-borne infectious pathogens,' the study authors said, according to a Tulane release.

These findings were published in the American Journal of Public Health.