[Leica] Supersize me

[abridge at gmail.com (Adam Bridge)]

On 3/7/07, Daniel Ridings <dlridings@gmail.com> wrote:

> In the US, I don't know if you are allowed to say this, but if you go
> to the lower class areas, lower education level, you're going to find
> the fat people.
>
> If you walk up Michigan Avenue where better educated, more well to do
> people live, you are not going to see very many fat people.

The reason for this is very complex. ONE aspect has to do with what
markets in low-income areas choose to carry, and it isn't fruits and
vegetables. A pilot program in Sacramento has been undertaken to
measure the effect of offering fruits and vegetables (fresh, that is)
in very low-income areas. It took effort because the infrastructure
for the small markets wasn't in place and there were economic
incentives as well. The initial numbers, and this was from last summer
as I feebly recall, showed that 1) people would select the fresh foods
over others and 2) there was a corresponding increase in population
health. I don't recall how that was measured but the results were good
enough to get another round of funding.

Sorry I can't provide more details and I'm not finding the original reports.

There are other issues at play of course: food as a drug is a  major
one, food as control, food for relief of depression. The cause of
obesity is multi-dimensional just as the cause of anorexia is complex.
The energy balance part is the EASY part. Behavior is much more
complex. It's just as for dealing with drug problems.

Adam