Obesity is an extensive problem in the United States. “25% of children in poorer areas are obese, compared to about 11% in more affluent areas”(Ellen). People believe that other causes of obesity are significant, but others believe it is from financial standing. These are controversial among researchers, health professionals, or nutritionists. SNAP helps impoverished people to eat healthier with the help of financial security. Obesity rates will decrease when encouraging SNAP users to eat healthier. To start with, food consumed each day shows emphasis towards the prevalence of obesity in impoverished people. Healthy foods are expensive and unhealthy foods are cheap. When money is tight, families require finding the cheapest foods. These foods are likely higher in calories and processed (Ellen). This shows that poverty-stricken people eat unhealthily compared to rich people in that they tend to choose the cheapest foods. Impoverished people have a certain budget that they need to live by, so they can’t buy the foods they want. This can suggest that cheap foods are high in fat and cholesterol; eating foods like this every day would lead to an unhealthy lifestyle. For instance, if an impoverished person is vegan, their budget would forbid this for the reason that the cost of vegan foods is high. On the other hand, rich people buy expensive, healthy foods as a result of being financially secure. Additionally, People that live in impoverished environments have poor access
As years go by American weight struggle has been getting worse. People with diabetes today has more than double since 1994. While there are ways to help bring down obesity, most companies have not taken action. There are many factors to why obesity has only been increasing all these years.
Part of this obesity issue is connected to the percent of people living under relative poverty line in the US is larger compared to other countries. This results in more lower income people
Obesity among the poor is already a major concern. According to health and medicine website WebMD.com, health risks linked to obesity include heart disease, stroke, high blood pressure, diabetes, some cancers, gallbladder disease, osteoarthritis, gout, sleep apnea, breathing problems, and many other disorders. (Varnada Karriem-Norwood, MD, "Obesity and Diseases: Weighing Your Risks", 2014) As individuals suffer from more and more health disorders related to obesity, the propensity for long-term disorder increases. Significant health problems can, in-turn, lead to absenteeism, and in extreme cases, disability, further hindering earning ability. This cycle of poverty, poor food choices, and health repercussions is
Otherwise known as Food Stamps, this program was aimed towards those battling food insecurity or hunger, and to assist them in purchasing food. This program has in fact helped to alleviate these problems, but has resulted in another extreme: obesity. The article “Do Food Stamps Cause Obesity? Evidence From Immigrant Experience” explains that “monthly vouchers of food stamps have been found to affect quantity and frequency of food consumption, with periods of high consumption immediately following voucher receipt (Kaushal, 4). I find this to be unsurprising, as when food is plentiful and readily available, splurging seems likely. Citizens that are qualified for this program are essentially provided a sum of money in correlation to the number of family members in their home. The money provided is enough to counteract hunger, but not nearly enough to provide a healthy diet by any means. The article also provides that “between 20 to 30 percent of food stamp recipients would spend less on food than their food stamp benefit amount if they received cash instead of stamps.” Because the food stamp is only exchangeable for food items, this can limit the families spending power. When given their monthly allotment of food stamps, the family will stock up on the inexpensive, unhealthy food, because it lasts the longest. When living under these circumstances, the individual doesn’t have a choice to be particular with the items they
When thinking of poverty, many people first think of third world countries like Africa. What people may not know is the amount of people living in the United States in poverty, especially children. There are over sixteen million children living in poverty; the poverty line is considered to be below $23,550 a year for a family of four. The amount of children living in poverty today is twenty-two percent of all children in the United States (“Child Poverty”). With such a large number of people in the country in fiscally unstable environments, it can easily be seen that they also are susceptible to other problems; one major concern being obesity. Two major contributors to this problem are poor nutrition, because of the lack of nutritious
It is said that obesity can be caused by not knowing how to combat and prevent this common disease before it begins in poverty stricken areas. Additionally the availability of nutritious food choices and the means to have safe active life style are not available to those who suffer from poverty due to financial and educational disadvantages. Obesity is not just a class problem, but financially disadvantaged people that lack access to quality food will inevitably turn to high calorie processed foods that will stretch their food dollar.
Does low socioeconomic status bear a significant role in the obesity epidemic? A national survey conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2010) estimated that more than two-thirds of Americans are now overweight or obese (body mass index of over 30), and the percentage is escalating. The Census Bureau (2011) reported 46.2 million people in America are currently living beneath the official poverty line. The official poverty rate in 2010 was 15.1 percent; up from 14.3 percent in 2009; this was the third consecutive annual increase in the poverty rate (Census Bureau, 2011). One might assume that obesity and poverty are not associated, but this is not accurate. The correlation between poverty and obesity can be
Childhood obesity has now reached an epidemic in several parts of the United States. As a result, children now have a higher risk to have numerous chronic and acute medical problems. Several of the long-lasting medical problems a child might face as a result of obesity could eventually result in death. In addition to chronic medical problems, childhood obesity has severe psychosocial effects on an individual such as low self-esteem and depression. Childhood obesity is a serious problem that is caused by a numerous amount of factors that can eventually lead to severe health complications.
The findings from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), which was the most comprehensive study conducted so far in an attempt to document the nutritional status of the United States population, found that low-income children and adolescents are more likely to be obese than their higher income counterparts, also, reports have shown a higher prevalence of obesity among low-income adults. Studies showed that more than one-third of adults who earn less than $15,000 annually were obese, compared to twenty-five percent of adults who earned more than $50,000 a year. Much of this obesity is because of the fact that unhealthy food is a lot cheaper than healthy food.
Two-thirds of adults and nearly one-third of children struggle with overweight and obesity. For every five American deaths, one is associated with obesity. America causes obesity because Americans are always exposed to oversized food portions everywhere, healthy foods may be more costly than fast food restaurants, and the environment may not provide a healthy lifestyle in the area the person may live in.
Childhood obesity is an epidemic across the United States of America as well as it is in California. Obesity can lead to multiple types of diseases such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease, cancer, and many other factors that can affect the body and the mind. Our environment that we live in that provides technology, the cultural living styles have also changed from a couple decades ago, and the lifestyle that we have evolved over time. The quality of food continues to change and we have new technology like yelp to look at new kinds of restaurants with new dishes. New fast food chains and desserts are booming every day. A different type of dessert hype continues to develop in our society today because it’s the trend. Our children learn from our hype and from our technology. Childhood obesity continues to affect children in many different angles throughout society.
It is no surprise that obesity is on the rise in the United States of America. According to the American Diabetes Association, obesity rate have more than doubled since the 1970’s and that two-thirds of America’s inhabitants are now either overweight or obese. Another thing that might not be a surprise is that poverty is also on the rise in the United States of America. The census in 2010 showed that forty-six million people in the United States are living in poverty. That is the greatest amount of people living in poverty in more than fifty years. The thing that might be a surprise though is that there is a link between obesity and poverty. A study between poverty rates and obesity was done in more than three thousand counties in the United
While all segment of the U.S population are affected by obesity, one common myth exists: all or virtually all the children of low- socioeconomic demographic are far more likely to be obese. There are some researchers that deny the existence of a relationship between obesity and socio-economic status but then there are others that verified that there is an actual connection amongst the two. Poverty is unanimously defined as the state of being poor: one who lacks a usual or socially acceptable amount of money or material possessions. Low socioeconomic status influences the demographics’ exposure to predominant aspects, like the lack of nutrition: poor nutrition is well – known feature of deprivation; poverty and nutrition go hand and hand. There are countless aspects that threaten the nutrition status for the underprivileged population. Researchers argue that the idea of quantity vs. quality is number one amongst the numerous other reasoning’s that puts the demographic of low- income children at risk of becoming obese.
The issue that I chose to research about was obesity in children and why it is becoming more relevant and time continues. I chose a recent article from San Francisco Chronicle that explains a recent survey that was conducted and what their plan is to try to fix it. In this article, a national report was done comparing children and adult body mass indexes. “The 2016 National Survey of Children's Health found that 30 percent of Wisconsin children ages 10 to 17 are overweight or obese, while the state's adult rate of obesity is 31 percent” (2017). Because of these results, health officials are very concerned and are trying to fix the problem. Because of this concern, health prfessionals are trying to teach parents to start to fix the problem from home.by having parents provide a better diet and exercise routine for their children.
Obesity is a huge issue for all age groups in America. Ranging from toddlers, adults, adolescents and children. The obesity rate in the last thirty years has skyrocketed. It is a crucial issue to be addressed because the statistics now show that over the years; the amount of people suffering from this has only dramatically augmented and will continue to do so if something isn’t being done about it. Obesity is an addiction that most individuals don’t realize they have until it’s too late. t’s not good for anyone to be overweight. Living gets harder and is also sometimes fatal. Being healthy and having a correct weight size will make you physically and emotionally happy and enable you to perform daily task without any problems and less health issues soon.