No subject

[...]

RISK FACTORS FOR OBESITY ASSOCIATED WITH POVERTY

Low-income neighborhoods are underserved by full-service supermarkets.
- Low-income neighborhoods frequently lack full-service grocery stores
and farmers=92 markets where residents can
buy fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and low-fat dairy products.
Instead, residents often are limited to shopping
at small neighborhood convenience stores, where fresh produce and
low-fat food items are limited, if available at
all.

When available, healthy food is more expensive.
-  The price of healthy foods is also a factor for many low-income
households =96 healthy foods often are
significantly more expensive, when they are available.
-  Low-income families that are trying to stretch their dollars may be
forced to buy cheaper, higher calorie foods in
order to make their food budgets last.

There are few opportunities for physical activity in neighborhoods and scho=
ols.
-  Low-income neighborhoods often have few safe or attractive places
to play or be physically active. Open space =96
good parks, sidewalks, and fields =96 is at a minimum, and recreational
facilities often are inadequate.
- High rates of crime or fear of crime make parents reluctant to
permit children to play and be physically active
outdoors. Afterschool and summertime recreational activities and
sports are also typically less available to low
income children.
- School districts in low-income neighborhoods are frequently
underfunded, making cutbacks in physical education
more likely. This also puts pressure on schools to supplement their
funds by permitting the sale of less healthy
foods in competition with the School Breakfast and Lunch Programs.

High levels of stress and limited access to health care can contribute
to weight gain.
- Hunger may be a stressor that results in disordered eating, reduced
physical activity, and depression, all of
which may be related to weight gain. And, hunger and/or poverty may
also cause a stress response that is
hormonal, and contributes to obesity.
- Several studies have shown an association between depression in
mothers and children and the development of
obesity. Low-income families may face high levels of stress due to the
financial and emotional pressures of low-
wage work, inadequate and long-distance transportation, poor housing,
and neighborhood violence.
- Many low-income people lack access to basic health care, or if
health care is available, it is lower quality. This
results in lack of diagnosis and treatment of emerging chronic health
problems like obesity.

HUNGER AND OBESITY ARE CONNECTED

The connections between hunger and obesity are related to the ways
households must manage their
limited resources for food in order to stave off hunger.
- Mothers that sacrifice their own nutrition in order to protect their
children from hunger can find themselves in a
=93feast or famine=94 situation, which may contribute to obesity. Food
deprivation can cause a preoccupation with
food, and can also result in women overeating at those times when they
have adequate amounts of food.
- In addition, because refined grains, sugar, and fat cost less per
calorie than fresh produce, sometimes low
income women may be forced to purchase less expensive energy-dense
foods in order to protect their families
from hunger.

Hunger and obesity need to be addressed jointly =96 studies show that
participation in federal nutrition
programs can combat both.
- The child nutrition programs play a dual role of fighting hunger and
food insecurity as well as providing
nutritious foods on a regular basis. These programs also free up
resources for low-income families to purchase
food for meals not covered for their children.
- A groundbreaking 2003 study found that school-age girls in food
insecure households had a significantly lower
risk of being overweight if they participated in any or all of three
federal nutrition programs =96 School Breakfast,
School Lunch, and Food Stamps.

[...]
----------------
from "Proceedings of the  Roundtable on Understanding  The Paradox of
Hunger  And Obesity"

[...]

The Relationship Between Hunger, Food Insecurity and Obesity

o Relatively little is known about why low-income women in the U.S. are
more likely to be obese. Food insecurity may be a possible explanation,
since quite a few research studies now demonstrate higher prevalences of
overweight and obesity among food insecure compared to food secure
women. (Generally, this relationship has not been seen in men and
children.)
o A number of researchers have theorized about potential mechanisms for
the association between food insecurity and obesity, including an
association between food insecurity and binge-like eating; cyclical food
deprivation patterns in mothers that could result in overeating when
adequate food becomes available; preoccupation with food and eating
resulting from food restriction and deprivation; lack of fruit and vegetabl=
e
consumption due to their higher per calorie cost and lack of availability i=
n
low-income areas; and the decreased cost per calorie of added sugar and
fats.
o Past deprivation, as in the case of Latino mothers, may negatively affect
mothers=92 relationships to their children in the food arena - - causing th=
em
to feel that their children should =ECclean their plates=EE and/or be indul=
ged
when it comes to food treats.
o The link between obesity and food insecurity may be caused by a third
factor that contributes to both the risk of obesity and food insecurity in
adulthood - - socioeconomic disadvantage in childhood. This is suggested
by a number of studies showing socioeconomic disadvantage in early life
to be positively associated with increased obesity and food insecurity in
young adulthood. If this research holds up, this should lead those
concerned about obesity to work to improve the economic lives of lowincome
households.
o The impact of the stress of poverty and its related effects may have
physiological as well as psychological and behavioral impacts. Recent
neurobiological research shows strong effects of stress on the release of
hormones that can lead to central adiposity, i.e., the unhealthy storage of
excess fat in the center of the body, which in turn acts physiologically to
relieve the effects of further stress. Thus, food deprivation in early life
may set one up to be overweight later in life.
o Discrimination against obese women in education, employment, and
wages may be contributing to the obesity epidemic and increasing the
chances that families will experience food insecurity. This is because if
women lack education and adequately reimbursed employment, their
households are more likely to be poor and food insecure. Both poverty and
food insecurity in women are associated with obesity.

[...]
---------------

both the above documents and other information at
<http://www.frac.org/html/hunger_in_the_us/hunger&obesity.htm#proceedings>