It might seem that growing up in a poor neighborhood would lower obesity risk. After all, there's less money to afford things, including food.
However, a new study by researchers from the University of Colorado Denver shows that children and young adults who live in low-income areas are at an increased risk of obesity later in life. Why? Because these individuals are less likely to have access to exercise amenities and healthy food choices and are under increased levels of stress.
The study examined national survey data on students in grades seven through 12 over a 13-year period. Findings showed that living in low-income neighborhoods increased obesity risk. On a positive note, moving out of these areas decreased obesity risk.
"The research demonstrates that the long-term residential experiences of teenagers can affect their life-long health," researcher Adam Lippert, an assistant professor in the Department of Sociology, said. "It's encouraging to see that the risk of obesity can be curtailed by moving out of low-income areas."
While researchers noted that relatively few studies have touched on the consequences of residential inequalities in the U.S., this study, published in the Journal of Health and Social Behavior, is definitely not the first to examine how certain factors of poverty influence health.
A study published in the Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology in June 2014 specifically looked at the rate of childhood obesity among children growing up in low-income neighborhoods. In this study, in particular, researchers analyzed the effects of neighborhood poverty levels, family poverty levels and ethnicity regarding the rates of childhood obesity by looking at close to 1,000 children who were born with low birth weight. They also looked for any changes in the children's body mass index (BMI) between the ages of 2 and 6 and a half.
Findings showed that by the age of 2, the low birth weight infants from poor areas had unusually high BMIs compared to those measured in the low birth weight category from wealthier neighborhoods. African-American toddlers from poor neighborhoods were also found to carry the highest risk for weight issues.
A more recent study, published in January in the journal Childhood Obesity, showed that racial disparities among obesity risk, which are usually higher among African-American and Hispanic children, disappear once lower family income is factored into the equation. The study focused on data from the Michigan Clinical Outcomes Research and Report Program to determine student BMIs among more than 100,000 Massachusetts students.
Researchers found that as poverty levels increased, so did obesity levels due to similar reasons in the initially mentioned study: lack of access to forums for exercise, lack of access to healthy food choices, etc. More specifically, after examining obesity rates in children from 68 public school districts in the area, researchers found that for every 1 percent increase in low-income status, there was a 1.17 percent increase in rates of both overweight and obese students.
Though these studies did not follow-up with participants to see how they fared later on and if moving out of poverty or staying in unstable, low-income living conditions affected their physical health down the road, Lippert argued that providing adolescent participants with resources that improve their residential circumstances as they enter into adulthood can majorly impact their life and health overall.
Statistics showed that childhood obesity is a continuing problem throughout the world. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) noted that obesity rates have doubled in children and quadrupled in adolescents in the last 30 years.
