Does Poverty Cause Obesity?

[yellowwood]

Recent Newsweek articles have linked obesity to poverty. For instance:
http://www.newsweek.com/id/193518
Do you agree?

[no_hypocrisy]

1. Based on observations and experience, I agree.

While those in need may receive food "stamps" (or its debit card equivalent), in certain sections of cities, there aren't supermarkets or grocery stores that one can walk to. Only bodegas that sell soda, chips, pretzels, etc. The only "food" that's available and cheap is fast food franchises, e.g., burgers, pizza, fries, etc. And there one can purchase three burgers for the price of a salad.

When I was a teacher in a daycare in Harlem, the kids got three free meals, all nutritious. I made sure they ate as much as they could as I was suspicious of what their fare at home would be. One kid had an alcoholic grandmother who fed him only Pepsi and potato chips for example. We educated the kids as much as we could about "good eating" and nutrition, but they didn't buy the food they ate.

In summary, living in areas without investment, which means access to fresh meat, vegetables, and fruits, i.e., poverty, has the likelihood of obesity among those living there.

[LynneSin]

8. Living in the city I have to agree

To get to the mega stores where groceries are available requires a vehicle. And no one wants to lug bags of groceries on a hot bus.

[OHdem10]

2. Poverty itself does not cause Obesity. However, the foods which

Poor People depend on foods that are higher calorie and therefore
add pounds.

Meats and Fresh Vegetables are expensive. The Poor cannot afford much.

Often Legumes( Peas and Beans are good substitute for Meat Protein
along with PNut Butter---You get the picture.

Pastas Breads Rice, etc are fillers. Again calories add up.

I think this is what they mean.

[elleng]

3. Yes/No. Cause?

How the Food Makers Captured Our Brains

'By combining fats, sugar and salt in innumerable ways, food makers have essentially tapped into the brain’s reward system, creating a feedback loop that stimulates our desire to eat and leaves us wanting more and more even when we’re full. . .

Today, foods are more than just a combination of ingredients. They are highly complex creations, loaded up with layer upon layer of stimulating tastes that result in a multisensory experience for the brain. Food companies “design food for irresistibility,” Dr. Kessler noted. “It’s been part of their business plans.”

But this book is less an exposé about the food industry and more an exploration of us. “My real goal is, How do you explain to people what’s going on with them?” Dr. Kessler said. “Nobody has ever explained to people how their brains have been captured.” . .

Overeating is not due to an absence of willpower, but a biological challenge made more difficult by the overstimulating food environment that surrounds us. “Conditioned hypereating” is a chronic problem that is made worse by dieting and needs to be managed rather than cured, he said.'

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/23/health/23well.html?ref=health

[Chemisse]

4. I disagree.

I think obesity has a physiological explanation. Our appetite and interest in food is carefully regulated by chemicals in various organs of the body.

Something has set this askew in this and some other developed countries. Maybe trans fats, perhaps estrogen imitators in our food and plastics, maybe the cascade of changes caused by stress, possibly a lack of Vit. D. Maybe different factors for different people.

So if there is a correlation between income gap and obesity, I think it would be due to some physiological event (like maybe the stress of poverty and low self-esteem).

[Greyhound]

16. Read EllenG's reply right above your's. n/t

[ipaint]

5. Another review of the book

"The authors point out that the life-diminishing results of valuing growth above equality in rich societies can be seen all around us. Inequality causes shorter, unhealthier and unhappier lives; it increases the rate of teenage pregnancy, violence, obesity, imprisonment and addiction; it destroys relationships between individuals born in the same society but into different classes; and its function as a driver of consumption depletes the planet's resources.

...On almost every index of quality of life, or wellness, or deprivation, there is a gradient showing a strong correlation between a country's level of economic inequality and its social outcomes. Almost always, Japan and the Scandinavian countries are at the favourable "low" end, and almost always, the UK, the US and Portugal are at the unfavourable "high" end, with Canada, Australasia and continental European countries in between.

This has nothing to do with total wealth or even the average per-capita income. America is one of the world's richest nations, with among the highest figures for income per person, but has the lowest longevity of the developed nations, and a level of violence - murder, in particular - that is off the scale. Of all crimes, those involving violence are most closely related to high levels of inequality - within a country, within states and even within cities. For some, mainly young, men with no economic or educational route to achieving the high status and earnings required for full citizenship, the experience of daily life at the bottom of a steep social hierarchy is enraging.

The graphs also reveal that it is not just the poor, but whole societies, from top to bottom, that are adversely affected by inequality. Although the UK fares badly when compared with most other OECD countries (and is the worst developed nation in which to be a child according to both Unicef and the Good Childhood Inquiry), its social problems are not as pronounced as in the US."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2009/mar/13/the-spirit-level

Newsweek singles out obesity and the poor but the negative effects of inequality hit most classes not just the lowest.

[Greyhound]

18. Much better, thanks. n/t

[LiberalEsto]

6. Yes

When people are struggling, depressed and anxious, they often turn to comfort foods. Most of these foods contain large amounts of starches and sugars. When people are really upset, they don't turn to a salad or tofu. They want a bag of chips, a bowl of mashed potatos, a box of cookies.

[Warpy]

7. Partially. People overeat poor quality food in an attempt to get

the nutrition their bodies need, putting on weight while remaining malnourished.

However, something else is also at work. The pattern of obesity over the last 20 years has followed the classic pattern of an infectious illness, spreading out from the Gulf of Mexico throughout Central America and the US and is now spreading worldwide.

Epidemic obesity, which is what we're seeing now, is likely going to be found a much more complex problem than a bunch of poor slackers and moral failures turning to gluttony out of boredom.

[Obamanaut]

9. A lot of legislators - state and federal - are large. Does being in

politics cause obesity?

[LynneSin]

10. I'm not 100% sold on it but I can see it

I live in the city and grocery shopping in the city sucks. What's funny is the big Grocery chain in our state is ACME. And the ACME that is in downtown Wilmington (although in a very upscale neighborhood) is way overpriced compared to the ACMEs in the suburbs. Eight years of city living has shown me that if I need to shop for the best groceries I need a car to drive out to the suburbs. So if you're stuck living in the city without a car, you have to rely on stores that charge a premium for you to get groceries.

I will say this much, another downtown, in the city grocery store opened in Wilmington right in the heart of a poorer section of the city. I pass by the Fresh Grocer when I head home and they did a great job plus their prices are reasonable too. They have a large selection of groceries for hispanics and asians plus they have a great produce section to boot.

[NashVegas]

11. I Don't Know, Let's Ask These Guys

The answer would seem to be "no."


What it comes down to, is the importance placed by the food decider in a household.


Take anyone over say, 40-45 and it's probably safe to assume they did NOT have potato chips and soda in the house 24/7. In my family, such were only had at special occasions, like birthdays and picnics. But starting in the late 1970s/early 1980s, when more variety started coming in, those Doritos and Pepsi Generation ads started kicking in and *whoosh*

My first roommate was a chunky one, though, and she had a bag out every night.

I'm overweight now, and it's certainly not poverty related. It's age, lack of activity, + dairy + white bread, mostly.

[Missy Vixen]

29. Oh, let's

They're starving to death, are they not?

[slackmaster]

12. No, I know plenty of poor people who are not obese

In people who do not have metabolic disorders, ignorance about nutrition leads to obesity.

[Dogmudgeon]

13. Starch is cheap

The poor aiso have more atherosclerosis.

Starch --> higher triglycerides --> inflammation --> plaques --> atherosclerosis

-->d!

[KittyWampus]

30. lentils are also cheap. As are onions. But a large section of America's population has forgotten

how to cook nutritional food.

And all the bodegas I have ever gone to has at least a small section of basic fruit/veggies and dry goods.

[noamnety]

14. Poverty + government policies = obesity

Our government subsidizes foods that cause obesity, making those the affordable ones, instead of subsidizes the farming of the healthiest foods.

[Greyhound]

20. Another important factor, thanks for bringing it up. n/t

[Tan Gent]

15. Not directly but it makes it a lot easier to achieve.

...

[stray cat]

17. Not directly - otherwise more africans would be obese

[santamargarita]

19. Frightened with few options...

just like the goddamn Republicans want it. It's possible.

[L0oniX]

21. You can't get something from nothing!

[Incitatus]

22. No, eating more calories than your body burns does.

[Stuart G]

23. Yes, certain fats and sugars are cheaper than more healthy foods and

they taste better for those who eat them..The obesity continues to grow because of these facts..

[scrinmaster]

24. Of course it does, just look at all the fat people in Africa.

[surrealAmerican]

25. It's funny that most of the posts so far have been ...

... focused on food. Exercise, or the lack of it, probably plays just as big a role here. Poor people who live in dangerous neighborhoods, can't exercise outdoors, can't afford gym memberships, and frequently don't have time to get an adequate quantity of exercise.

[KittyWampus]

31. Poor peoplein dangerous neighborhoods could organize and start cleaning up their surroundings.

People are only helpless when they give up and call themselves such.

[earth mom]

26. No. nt

[OhioChick]

27. No n/t

[BlooInBloo]

28. No, (cals in) > (cals out) causes obesity. Poverty can be on factor leading to that inequality, tho.