by Pam Brink

Created on: February 11, 2011   Last Updated: May 01, 2012

Understanding the connection between poverty and obesity involves understanding the connection between economics and food consumption as well as the relationship between carbohydrates and obesity.
     
The economics of food

Carbohydrates are the cheapest source of food in the world. Many of the world’s poorest people survive on the foods they can grow in their own yards.

Fruits and vegetables are carbohydrates. The starchier the vegetable, the more filling it is. The sweeter the fruit, the more satisfying it is. Since the advent of the agricultural revolution, people have relied on grains (wheat, rice, corn) or tubers (cassava, yam, potatoes) as the basic component of their diet. Whether these grains become pastas, breads or tortillas, they become a staple of every meal.  

Animal proteins are the most expensive food to buy.

A family may be able to raise chickens and ducks in their yards, which also produce eggs. Larger animals such as goats or cows, providing milk, require more land. Impoverished people may not have the land to raise their own food and may not be able to buy chickens as a food source.

Hunting and fishing have always been a source for animal protein but the results of a hunt are dependent upon the available animals in the area and their distance from home. People, who live near bodies of water that contain fish, will rely on fish as their protein source.

With the advent of the agricultural revolution came the decline in hunting and gathering as the primary method of obtaining food. Anthropologists have documented the relationship between the shift from hunting and gathering to a grain based diet and the development of obesity in mummies (see Claire Cassidy’s doctoral research discussed in Protein Power) as well as living indigenous populations (see the discussion on The Pima of Arizona in Gary Taube’s Good Calories, Bad Calories).

When an animal species, used as a primary protein source, dies out in an area (the Buffalo for the Plains Tribes, Antelope for the Southwestern tribes in the US), the family becomes dependent upon the animals and vegetation it can grow for food.

Unless a family is able to grow their own vegetables and fruits, hunt for animal foods, or keep animals for food, they must rely on grocery products and government handouts. A family’s level of income dictates the amount of money they have available for food. When money is scarce, a poor family must rely on the cheapest foods to survive.

• 1
• 2
• Next Page >>