I'm struck by the recent data that has come out on obesity (http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2011/07/07/the-connection-between-obesity-and-poverty/?mod=google_news_blog). Surely there was not much that was truly new here - obesity has been an increasingly severe problem for the last twenty or thirty years.
What strikes me today, though, is the linkage between obesity and poverty. If you are poor in Mali, there is a very good chance that you're malnourished (if not starving). But if you're poor in Mississippi, there's a distressingly high chance that you're obese.
Certainly being "poor" in America means something different than in Africa, South America or Asia. There is not the same fear of famine or disease among our poor as there is in other parts of the world. What's more, many of our poor own their own means of transportation and have amenities like air conditioning, cable TV, and so on, as well as access to education.
It makes me wonder what is so different about our system that poverty seems to lead to obesity and all the attendant deleterious health consequences of being fat. Is it because our government subsidizes corn and soy and therefore makes it very cheap to buy highly-processed calories? Is it because our lifestyle leads us away from healthier cooking and eating choices? Could it be that there is a lack of judgement that leads one to be obese and also leads to other life decisions that lead to poverty?
I don't have any answers and this may never turn into an article or column. But it's on my mind today and I find that sometimes writing out my thoughts leads me to new insights on a problem.
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