"Breaking the Link Between Poverty
and Obesity
It's not easy being healthy and fit in America, and for those in lower income groups, staying fit is a huge challenge. Research shows that in the United States, minorities and the poor have higher rates of obesity and type 2 diabetes. Among women, higher obesity rates tend to be associated with both low income and lower education. (The relationship between obesity and income is a little murkier with men for no known reason.) A casual observer could be forgiven for reaching the conclusion that poverty causes obesity. But the truth is a lot more complicated. There are some good reasons why the link between poverty and obesity is so strong -- not the least of which is the fact that poverty is also generally accompanied by the low cost of high-calorie foods containing high amounts of fat and sugar.
'Obesity is a political and social problem,' says Mark Hyman, MD. 'There's a medical-industrial complex designed to keep people sick and fat,' Dr. Hyman told me. 'We're spending billions of dollars a year subsidizing soybean and corn production, some of which winds up in our food supply as high-fructose corn syrup and hydrogenated soybean oil.' High fructose corn syrup is a main sweetener in many foods and is found in high-caloric processed foods and sweetened beverages... hydrogenated soybean oil is a source of trans-fats. Both are among the cheapest source of calories on earth.
Indeed, research presented at the Institute of Food and"
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