News Article: Link Between Economic Insecurity, Stress, and Obesity

American University researchers claim that the obesity crisis could be due in part to growing economic insecurity, stress, and a sense of powerlessness in nations where high-sugar and high-fat foods pervade. For the first time in the world’s history, there are currently more overweight than underweight adults worldwide.

“When I began looking into the issue of obesity, I realized the most overweight are the least privileged members of society,” researcher, Jon D. Wisman said. “It was those people who possessed the least control over their lives and thus suffer the greatest insecurity and stress.”

Wisman said that the least privileged tended to be minorities, and amongst the minorities, the most overweight tended to be women. Wisman also pointed out how stress increases cortisol production in the body and increases in cortisol cause the body’s appetite for high fat and high sugar foods to increase as well.

In addition, the researchers indicated that technological advancement and economic progress have increased incomes and lowered the cost of food, therefore promoting greater calorie intake. At the same time technological advancement and economic progress have also decreased calorie expenditure.

Since 1980, the number of Americans who are obese has doubled. Although the researchers acknowledge economic insecurity cannot account entirely for this, they point out that 1980 marked the beginning of a time period of mass economic insecurity – with increasing health care costs, economic uncertainty, unemployment, and stress.

To further support the notion that increased economic insecurity has led to increased obesity, the researchers also indicated how obesity did not increase between 1960 and 1980. During that 20-year span, unemployment was low and many social programs which reduced economic insecurity significantly had been put into place.

“The (obesity) epidemic really began around 1980 when the safety nets began to fall apart,” Wisman said. “It is going to take a serious reassessment of social organization in order to fix this situation.”