Blog Post #10: The Poor Remain Thin

Researchers
have seen a steady increase of obesity and heart disease in many
third world, developing countries around the world. However, these
problems were found to mainly affect the rich and middle class,
leaving the poor underweight and under nourished, making them almost
as bad off as their wealthier, fatter counterparts. With many studies
out negating each other about weigh and health problems around the
world (some projecting a rise in heart disease, heart attacks at
younger ages, and a worldwide drive to be thin), researchers wanted
to see whether or not these have held true over the years. A new
study looked at 2 different groups of a combined number of 547,000
people between 1991 and 2008 and saw a rise, across the scale, in the
percentage of overweight women. But with this rise, researchers also
found that there was a clear division between the wealthy and poor.
While the number of poor women who were obese grew (18 percent), the
difference between that of wealthy people (45 percent) was
staggering. Conclusion that researchers made: “The poor stay
thinner.” While people are getting fatter, there still remains a
large number of the populations that is undernourished. Food in
poorer nations is expensive, making it harder for poorer individuals
to purchase.

In
this situation the distribution of the poor and wealthy is not as
drastic as it is for things like healthcare and other things. While
it may be hard for some people to get, food is usually readily
available in most countries. This social problem, body weight, can go
both ways; the rise of overweight people and the amount of
undernourished people around the world. But what the problem in this
situation is the gap in these less developed countries. While the
problem is getting better, it is still bad in some areas. While
solving one problem, we are in turn creating and adding to another.

http://health.yahoo.net/news/s/nm/us_developing_thin