Relationship between poverty and obesity - Essay Example

Lecturer: Relationship between poverty and obesity Introduction Obesity is escalating at an alarming pace because of increased levels of socio-economic factors. Poverty is one of the greatest socio-economic factors that are linked to poor eating of dietary foods; thus creased levels of obesity. Obesity is widespread among the children aging from 5 to 14 years across the globe. The World Health Organization (WHO) reports that obesity is most common in the United States because of increased socio-economic factors such as poverty (Burniat 98). It has become a pandemic syndrome globally; thus impacting the psychological and emotions of human beings. The purpose of the research is to address the issue of obesity, which is increasing at an alarming pace in the United States. It aims to educate the public especially parents because they are the care providers of their children, and yet the disease is common among children. It also aims to raise awareness among children in various schools, immigrants living under poverty levels because these are the majority of people living under poverty levels. It calls for the government to take action towards poverty eradication and provide effective health care services in order to reduce obesity and other associated health risks. Thesis: Although environmental, behavioral, psychological, social and other economic factors contribute to obesity, poverty levels are causally associated to obesity to a larger extent. Research Question: To what extent is obesity in American connected to poverty? Discussions Poverty levels are highly connected to obesity because of low-income levels; thus exposing the society to health risks. Poverty is one of the main problems that are highly connected with obesity among the low-income earners in America. The research study carried out on the connection between poverty and obesity in America indicated that people living in the poverty dense areas are prone to obesity (Ahn, Engelhardt and Joung 418). People living in impoverished areas lack access to food security; hence, the rate of exposing themselves to health risks is high. This is because they lack enough food; thus develop poor eating habits; hence resulting to increased obesity. This is dangerous because obesity is linked with poor eating habits especially lack of a balanced diet. Poverty is associated with laziness, and many people living under poverty levels tend to be inactive; hence contributing to obesity. The research evidence provides several reasons that indicate why many people living in poor areas tend to be inactive (Drewnowski 132). This means that many of them are not active outdoors because they do not have employment; hence contributing to obesity. This is because they do not consume much of their energy in doing any work activities; hence exposing themselves to health issues. Obesity is contributed by lack of regular exercise for the health of the body. For, instance, when an individual is working, he or she is likely to lose more energy that when an individual is not working. Therefore, since the poor does not have work to perform or have no money to attend gymnasium, they develop health complications such as obesity and other related diseases. The highest level of poverty is observed among the racial minorities and the poor in American society. Obesity level is related to low income levels, education and minorities. This group experience health issues because they lack adequate income to access to better health services, buy adequate fresh food and lack money for education. The minority groups lack money for accessing better education services and health facilities; hence, the risks of obesity and diabetes are high. Education plays a significant role in health issues. This is because people can be able to access health education programs on the way they will maintain a healthy living. For instance, many children among the minority and racial immigrants who are living under poverty levels in the U.S encounter health issues. This is because many children lack the money to access for better education, which can enable them to secure better employment in the future; thus the rate of health issues are high. The linkage between obesity and poverty issues are viewed in a different perspective. One of them is the disparity by income, and another one is racial or gender disparities. The research indicates that the level of obesity is higher among men than women. This is because women tend to lose more mass than men because men burn more energy when resting than women. The gap between low income and higher income groups is also linked with health issues. Lauren and Nies (56) argue that the largest population impacted by obesity issues in America is the minority groups and racially or ethnically segregated groups. The research study indicates that many minority groups lack aces to clean water, health services and health food for consumption (Ahn B, Engelhardt and Joung 421). Obesity is mediated by low energy defense foods and these results due to income disparity issues. The observed inverse connections among the energy costs and energy dense food result due to poverty issues. The energy cost framework is linked with food environment and obesity; thus providing explanations for income gap. Therefore, areas that are discriminated in terms of economic development encounter varied issues such as poor distribution of health facilities because of low-income levels. This contributes to deterioration of health because of increase rate of health issues. Lauren and Nies (43) argue that the lowest income groups face the challenges of healthy issues. Many parents living under the poverty level are unable to provide for their children adequate balanced diet; thus accounting for increased rate of obesity among children below 14 years. For instance, the increased numbers of obesity levels are observed among children ageing 5 to 14 years in America (Drewnowski 158). Younger people are prone to obesity than the older people because the rate of metabolism slows down when one gets older. Therefore, providing a balanced diet to children is significant. This is because it will enable them to grow a health life and avoid psychological or emotional effect that may contribute to high cancer, diabetes and heart diseases. Given the economic constraint issues in many countries, many people especially the low-income earners encounter consumption problems when it comes to purchasing of health food. Health diets cost a lot of money, and this becomes difficult for people from improvised areas or low-income families to access for better health services. The healthier food is consumed by affluent people, and this has created diet quality gap in the United States. Wealthier people and educated people are able to access to better diets than the poor people. The sound economic reason that reveals why poverty and obesity are related is poor consumption choice. The level of products has increased at an alarming rate because of economic issues; thus, the low-income earners or poor people are unable to make effective consumption choice of dietary food. The dietary foods are nowadays available in food industries, and many of them are sold at high prices; thus restraining low income earners from making effective consumption choices. Despite the poverty levels, there are other factors that contribute to obesity but to a smaller extent. One of them is the psychological and behavioral factors especially eating habits depending on the personal cravings. Food choices by people suffering from obesity explain the reason behind physiology and behavior issues. The behavioral issues have been observed among different people in the society for craving attitudes towards fatty foods and sugary products. The physiological explanation behind the increased obesity issues of satiety deficits and problem with insulin resistance. These results because of poor eating habits especially the consumption of fatty foods that contribute to health problems. The psychological explanation towards increased cases of obesity is the issue of the addictive personality. Many people do not take well and balanced diet because they eat depending on their personal cravings. This is dangerous because it contributes to poor eating habits; thus exposing people to health risks such as obesity, diabetes and other associated health issues. Environmental issues are another factor that contributes to healthy issues such as obesity. The rate of obesity is high in areas that are prone to poor climatic conditions, which are unfavorable for supporting agriculture. For instance, areas, which are prone, to climatic changes such as changes in the rainfall patterns and sunny or floods impacts agricultural activities. This contributes to famine; thus contributing to malnutrition aspects with associated health risks. Drewnowski (160) argues that food insecurity especially those areas that are prone to hunger face high rate of health risks such as obesity. This is because of the poor eating habits and lack of enough balanced diet food for a healthy body. Therefore, such areas depend upon relief foods or produce inadequate fresh food for maintaining a healthy living. Therefore, this impacts the health of people because of lack of dietary food. The increased rates of fast food in some environments have also contributed to increased rates of obesity. Fast food is well known for their inability to regulate the body calories; thus contributing too increased health complications such as obesity, diabetes and many other diseases. The other issue contributing to increased obesity in America is social factors such as education inequalities and health care disparities. Education and health care facilities gap are among the contributing social factors contributing to the levels of health issues. The research indicates that most health and education inequalities in America are linked to poverty or low income issues. The highest obesity incidences take place in areas with low education and health care facilities. Despite the efforts that the government has made towards health care reform, the health care issues such as increased levels of obesity and other related diseases are increasing at a high rate. The government spends heavily on maintaining the health nations, but the problems of disparities have left most of the minorities under the risks of health issues. Therefore, it is significant for the government to offer education programs in order to increase the level of awareness of maintaining a heath nation. They should also subsidize food industries as well cater for the needs of minorities in order to enable them improve their living standards. This is essential because it does not only reduce cases of health problems but also reduces the cost of spending on a health nation. Conclusion Although environmental, behavioral, psychological, social and other economic factors contribute to obesity, poverty levels are causally associated to obesity to a larger extent. Poverty levels are highly connected to obesity because of low-income levels; thus exposing the society to health risks. Poverty is associated with laziness, and many people living under poverty levels tend to be inactive; hence contributing to obesity. Obesity level is related to low income levels, education and minorities. Income and racial disparities are among the issues contributing to increased poverty; thus contributing to health issues. Many people especially the low-income earners encounter consumption problems when it comes to purchasing of health food due to economic constraints. This also contributes to increased level of obesity within the United States. Despite the poverty levels, there are other factors that contribute to obesity but to a smaller extent. This includes psychological, behaviors, social and other economic factors. However, these factors do not account to high level of obesity in American more than poverty issues. Work Cited Chul, Ahn B, Katrin Engelhardt, and Hyojee Joung. "Diet Variety Is Associated with Socio- Economic Factors." Ecology of Food and Nutrition. 45.6 (2006): 417-430. Print. Drewnowski, A. "Obesity and the Food Environment: Dietary Energy Density and Diet Costs." American Journal of Preventive Medicine. 27.3 (2004): 154-162. Print. Kupillas, Lauren, and Mary Nies. "Obesity and Poverty: Are Food Stamps to Blame?"Home Health Care Management & Practice. 20.1 (2007): 41-49. Print. Read More