14 DAY TRIAL // According to the results of a new study, it would appear that fast food habits are not exclusively responsible for the high obesity rates encountered in poor people in the United States. This is a common misconception, the research team explains, but one that is not without merit.
This study is not meant to say that it's OK for people to eat fast food for breakfast, lunch and diner. What the paper does say is that there are other factors besides this type of food that contributes to the widespread condition.
The investigation was conducted at a good time, since low to middle income in the US is currently increasing, as are fast food dining habits. If ever there's a time for correlations between the two, it's now, experts at University of California in Davies (UCD) believe.
Data the researchers used for this investigation came from the 1994-1996 Continuing Survey of Food Intakes by Individuals and the Diet and Health Knowledge Survey, PsychCentral reports. These datasets included survey information on more than 5,000 people throughout the country.
“There is a correlation between obesity and lower income, but it cannot be solely attributed to restaurant choice. Fast-food dining is most popular among the middle class – who are less likely to be obese,” expert J. Paul Leigh explains.
The expert holds an appointment as a professor of public health sciences at UC Davis, and was also the senior author of the new paper. The work appears online in the latest issue of the esteemed scientific journal Population Health Management.
The middle class is one of the main targets for the fast food industry. Restaurants are carefully placed in the middle of communities, while special offers are designed specifically to be attractive to the vast majority of people in this income group.
“Low prices, convenience and free toys target the middle class – especially budget-conscious, hurried parents – very well, the team leader explains. However, these are just some of the tactics the industry uses in order to attract as many clients as possible.
“It has traditionally been difficult to define patterns of restaurant consumption for Americans according to their incomes. By using a very large, nationally representative database that includes detailed information on income, we have solved that puzzle,” Leigh adds.
“Pricing is critical to low-income families, and over the past 30 years the costs of less healthy options have dropped compared to healthier fare,” the researcher adds.
“One potential way to encourage healthier eating could be to charge taxes that increase based on the number of calories in food. Proceeds from the taxes could then be used to subsidize and reduce the costs of healthy foods,” Leigh concludes.