A hundred years ago in the United States, obesity was a mark of wealth and leisure. People who could afford to eat what they wanted and manage to pay others to work for them were the ones that put on the extra pounds. The economics of obesity have changed significantly since then, with the burden of weight and obesity falling disproportionately on the poor. There is a powerful inverse relation between obesity and socioeconomic status in the developed world, especially among African-Americans.
So, what is responsible for this association? There are at least two possibilities: obesity influences socioeconomic status or socioeconomic status influences obesity. But there is strong evidence supporting the latter as highlighted by the causal pathway between being poor and being at higher risk for obesity.
Recent studies reinforce this notion in suggesting that the direct causes of obesity have their roots in systemic social and economic factors that are not easily overcome by......

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Title: Obesity - Socioeconomic Status
Approximate Word Count: 2024
Approximate Pages: 9 (250 words per double-spaced page)

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