Move to a poorer neighborhood and get fatter

[eridani]

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/293644.php

Each participant was allocated to a Dallas County census block group, and each group was given a Neighborhood Deprivation Index (NDI) score that revealed their socioeconomic status. This score was calculated using 21 variables from the 2000 US census - the higher the score, the more deprived the participants' neighborhood.
Weight gain rises with every 1-unit increase in NDI score

During the study period, 939 participants remained in the same neighborhood, 586 moved to a neighborhood with a lower NDI score, 263 participants moved to a neighborhood with a higher NDI score, and 47 participants relocated but had no change in NDI score.

The researchers found that participants who moved to a neighborhood with a higher NDI score gained more weight than participants who remained in a neighborhood with the same NDI score or moved to one with a lower score; they gained an average of 0.64 kg for every 1-unit NDI increase.

What is more, the team found that participants who moved to a neighborhood with a higher NDI score and who had lived there for at least 4 years gained an average of an additional 0.85 kg for every 1-unit NDI increase.

[longship]

1. WTF!

I can hardly wait for the peer review on this one.

However, if it holds up...

Who knows what is going on here? I am sure that many will have opinions.

I am a bit skeptical about one off studies, even when they agree with my political biases -- especially when they agree with my political biases!

Interesting, and if it pans out, worrying.
R&K

[1939]

2. Very few people starve to death in the US

But deprived people keep on going in their lives with unhealthy food choices which are filling but not nutritious.

Go to any poverty stricken area in the US and you won't see people looking like the Ethiopians during their "starving years" but you will see a lot of morbidly obese people..

[longship]

3. Again, WTF?

I do not think that your argument would stand any peer review.

I would stand down from my opinion if the science demonstrated otherwise. But it would take more than one study to demonstrate it, mainly because it takes more than one study to demonstrate anything in science. That is why there is peer review.

So I remain skeptical.

[AngryAmish]

5. Poor folks are heavier than the well off.

This is repeatedly shown in studies. Part of it is sexual selection, folks with more resources can pick their partners from a wider selection and thin is in.

Also, you tend to weigh what your peers weigh. If everyine around you is fat then you have no reason to deprive youRself.

You don't need studies to see this. You only need a car, eyes and a willingness to understand what you are seeing. Go to a wealthy suburb. Then go to a deprived area. Which one has more obese folks?

[1939]

10. Sometimes you can reach a conclusion intuitively

Ever looked at the web photos of "the people of Walmart"?

[longship]

11. I don't think that would stand up to peer review either. nt

[1939]

12. Hey

I don't need a bunch of PhDs to do a study and have it peer reviewed to determine that the more wealthy you are, the larger and more expensive your house or condo will be.

Sometimes the truth is self-evident.

[MiniMe]

4. Food that would promote weight loss and good health is expensive

People fill up on what they can afford, like pasta and bread. Fills the belly and is fattening.

[1939]

6. Plus

Gym memberships, personal trainers, Weight Watchers, Nutrisystem, diet doctors, Hydroxycut pills,................

[eridani]

7. 150 years ago, being pale and plump made a social statement

"I sit around in the shade and drink mint juleps, unlike you worthless scum out in the hot sun chopping cotton and picking potato bugs."

Today, being lean and tan says "I swim and play tennis in the summer. I ski in the winter and have a personal trainer, unlike you pale sedentary cubicle rats."

Note that while the extent of weight gain in our society has harmful effects, sun worship promotes skin cancer. Therefore, modern upper class esthetics has fuckall to do with health and everything to do with class status markers.

[nadinbrzezinski]

9. Food deserts and food swamps

[riderinthestorm]

13. Stress has to play a role here. It seems pretty obvious to me

that theres a link between obesity and stress as well that's not very well understood.