Carolina Castano
How hungry are you really?
When it comes to our diet our economic status plays a very significant role in the choices we make when deciding what to eat and valuing the importance of nutritional factors behind our food. For instance, some of the questions a low income family may ask themselves when purchasing groceries would be: what’s our budget? Versus a high income families would be: what do we want to have for dinner? The natures of these questions are mainly based on the economic inequality which also results in a health inequality which is a major socioeconomic problem in our society that needs to be addressed since obesity has become one of the leading causes of death. The sad but true reality is that health is not a factor when you are hungry if you’re broke. In other words, quantity will beat quality, in most cases, when low income is a factor. This is mainly because healthy food tends to be more expensive, health is not a priority for a low income individuals and the fact of limited access to …show more content…
For instance, one study shows that there are 25% less super markets in black neighborhoods than in white neighborhoods. Also, according to Powell LM, a white neighborhood is more likely to have four times as many supermarkets as a black neighborhood. Another problem at hand in this matter is the transportation factor that impacts this issue as well. No transportation obligates these individuals to shop at a convenience store where fresh produce, if available at all, is poor quality and more expensive. In addition, these low income neighborhoods are more likely to have convenience stores close by but also more fast food chains which result in more fast food consumption by low income neighborhoods. These findings demonstrate the alarming effects of economic status on the growing obesity