You can never be too rich or too thin. In fact, if you're not r
You can never be too rich or too thin. In fact, if you're not rich, you may not be able to afford to be thin.
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According to the CDC, poor diet and lack of physical activity are closing in on tobacco as leading causes of death in the U.S. Or as Secretary of Health and Human Services Tommy G. Thompson put it in a recent news conference announcing a "Healthy Lifestyles" initiative, "We're just too darned fat."
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To prove its point about the weighty problems facing our nation, the HHS, using data from the CDC, has produced a map showing a steady increase in the percentage of obese adults in all states from 1991 to 2000. In 1991, more than 20% of the adults in five different states were obese. A decade later, the problem had spread -- literally -- to 17 additional states.
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But while the data show an unequivocal gain in excess poundage throughout the country, the map also reveals a surprising inverse relationship between income and waistline. In other words, the more income grows, the lower obesity goes.
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"The states that are becoming obese are the states that are low income," says Adam Drenowski, PhD, director of the Center for Public Health Nutrition at the University of Washington in Seattle. States that rank among the lowest in household incomes -- Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama, and West Virginia -- are those with the highest percentages of obesity. Conversely, Connecticut and Massachusetts, which are among the wealthiest states, have among the lowest obesity rates, Drenowski contends.
You Get What You Pay For
At a recent symposium on the science of obesity, presented at the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston, Drenowski argued that many Americans are obese not by choice, but because they can't afford the luxury of being thin. The economics of food production, he says, are balanced heavily in favor of cheap foods that pack a big caloric wallop.
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"Refined grain, added sugars, and added fats remain the cheapest elements of our diet," Drenowski says. "Just how cheap is something not many people appreciate. At global market rates, sugar -- refined sugar, sucrose -- costs nine cents per pound. In other words, sugar provides you with 20,000 calories for one dollar. If you look at fat at world market prices, you will be getting one pound of fat for 20 cents, which means another 20,000 calories for one dollar."
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Fats, refined grains, and sugars are among the foods highest in what nutritionists call "energy density," which means that they contribute more calories pound-for-pound to the diet than, say, lean fish, vegetables, or fruits. But many foods with low energy density are full of nutrients, such as whole grains and vegetables.
