Obesity Linked to Wages.
A new study has found that minimum-wage employees are more likely to be obese than those who earn higher wages.
Traditionally when we thought of "poor people" we envisioned starving rail-thin malnourished children. Malnutrition is still prevalent in poor communities, the appearance of these individuals however is radically different.
It would seem to be a counter-intuitive point but it is clear from anecdotal experience as well as recent research that obese people are actually malnourished. Dietary analysis shows that people with less money to spend on food tend to purchase inexpensive nutrient poor foods. In an attempt to obtain a satisfactory amount of nutrients they will consume more calories.
The situation is compounded by insufficient exercise and lack of access to healthy foods in many neighborhoods.
Obesity is a complex problem with multiple causative factors and I fear that we are only seeing the tip of an enormous iceberg with regard to long term prevalence of serious chronic disease.
A new study has found that minimum-wage employees are more likely to be obese than those who earn higher wages.
“The correlation between obesity and poverty-level wages was very strong.”
Public health scientists have identified several potential reasons why lower wages could support the tendency for obesity. One is that poorer people tend to live in less safe neighborhoods with reduced access to parks and other low-cost means of physical activity.
Healthy, lower-calorie foods also tend to be more expensive and less available in poorer communities.
“After adjusting for inflation, minimum wages have been stagnant or falling over the past three decades, placing most full-time workers near the poverty line. It is also during those same three decades that we have seen the prevalence of obesity soar.”
“Obesity is a complex problem that likely has multiple causes. The more we can pinpoint those causes for specific populations, the greater chances there are for reducing its impact.”
Read more at psychcentral.com
