Obesity rates in women linked to low income and education
A new government income has shown that women who have a better quality of education and belonged to the middle-income group had a lower tendency to be obese. This is compared to women who are less educated and have lower income.
On the other hand, the case among men is different. The researchers were not able to see any significant difference in obesity when they looked at education and income status. All in all, there was nearly one third or 73 million of obese U.S. adults. Obese here is defined as being 30 or more pounds heavier than the normal average weight. This extra weight contributes to a higher risk of diabetes, types of cancer, heart disease and other problems.
According to Cynthia Ogden, an epidemiologist with the National Center for Health Statistics, “there is a relationship between obesity and income, but it’s not a simple story.” The National Center for Health Statistics is a part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Ogden said that the impact of education and income, two measures of socio-economic status, was more likely to be seen on women than on men.
The president of Obesity Society, Jennifer Lovejoy said that there are some environmental factors that explain why a woman with low income is more likely to become obese. These environmental factors include the lack of access to safe places where physical activity can be done and an easy access to fast food chains. It was also included among the findings that 29 percent of women who had an annual household income of $77,000 and above and had a family of four are obese. This is in comparison to the 42 percent of obese women who had an annual household income of $29,000 and had a family of four members.
In addition, 23 percent of women who hold a college degree are reported to be obese. This was far from the rate for women with less than a high school diploma, with the rate of 42 percent. Among men, there were 33 percent obese for those who lived in a household of four members with an annual income rate of $77,000 and above. 29 percent of men with annual income of $29,000 were obese. According to the researchers, this cannot be considered as statistically significant.