Obesity a Problem Among the Affluent

[BrainRants]

WASHINGTON - The poor are most likely to be fat, but the more affluent are closing the gap. Obesity is growing fastest among Americans who make more than $60,000 a year, researchers reported Monday.

"This is a very surprising finding," said Dr. Jennifer Robinson of the University of Iowa, whose study was presented at a meeting of the American Heart Association.

<snip>

For years doctors have known that the people most likely to be overweight have the lowest incomes. Fresh produce and other healthful fare can be expensive as well as less accessible than fast food and other high-fat options in low-income neighborhoods.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=514&e=6&u=/ap/20050502/ap_on_he_me/obesity_income

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Proof positive the Fat Cats are getting fatter! At least their health will suffer too.

[demnan]

1. What a relief!

Now I won't be accused of being trash instead I can be middle class!

[pnutchuck]

2. LOL n/t

[dogday]

3. GSB causes obesity

The preservative they put in all of our snack food and frozen products etc is used to induce weight in mice and rats for tests. It also causes weight gain in humans as well...

[candy]

4. Someone making $61,000.00 a year is affluent? Puhleeze!

[ultraist]

6. Considering 54k is the median & 35 million live in poverty

I suppose anything over the median could be considered affluent. It's all relative.

[KansDem]

5. Easy answer...

"Affluent" are so busy tending to personal responsibilities: real time-consuming personal responsibilities like child rearing and schooling; paying bills (on time); keeping neat home and well-manicured lawns; maintaining belief in Intelligent Designer including trips to Church and Sunday school; attending son's baseball games or daughter's ballet recitals, etc. This attention to personal responsibility, and hard work, leaves them very little time for meals. They then have to grab sometimes less-nutritious meals between their many obligations which tend to put on extra pounds...

"Poor" are, well, irresponsible because they're lazy and always overeating. Since they're too lazy to prepare nutritious meals, they spend their welfare checks on crappy junk food when they're not using the money to gamble (lottery tickets), buy expensive home entertainment equipment or cigarettes, or just plain doing drugs...

Clear?




/sarcasm

[ultraist]

7. LOL!

I think the fact that BOTH parents are working more has a lot to do with the increase. Who has time to cook dinner anymore? Eating out is fattening whether it be take out, sit down, or fast food.

The article notes that in 1970, only 9% of upper income individuals were obese. During that time, few mothers worked compared to today.


In the early 1970s, 22.5 percent of people with incomes below $25,000 were obese. By 2002, 32.5 percent of the poor were, they found.

By comparison, just 9.7 percent of people with incomes above $60,000 were obese in the 1970s — a figure that jumped to 26.8 percent in 2002.

Money for quality food aside, higher-income people are thought to be better educated and to have better access to health care, so why such a jump among them? In an interview, Robinson said no one yet knows. But she speculated that longer commutes, growing popularity of restaurants and possibly longer work hours since the 1970s are playing a role