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Most parents probably prioritise feeding their children above almost anything else. Then there are provisions like free school meals. So I wouldn't really expec
by takluyver 14y ago
Most parents probably prioritise feeding their children above almost anything else. Then there are provisions like free school meals. So I wouldn't really expect the statistics to show many children not getting enough to eat.
You seem to be focussing on the correlation between poverty and obesity. That's well known, but there are a couple of key differences from the discussion at hand:
First, the poorest category is generally quite broad. I'm looking at one of your citations now, and it lumps all households below about $20k into the 'poor' bracket. The fact that obesity is more prevalent overall in that bracket doesn't mean that everyone in it gets enough to eat.
Secondly, getting the food you need isn't just about calorie intake. After all, a cup of vegetable oil has almost all the calories you need for a day. People need a balanced diet, including vitamins and protein and so on. So waistline measurements alone aren't enough to determine how many people aren't getting adequate food. News stories such as tinyurl.com/cqw7r43 suggest that poorer households are cutting back on fruit and veg as money gets tighter.
Finally, when people can't afford enough food, they are likely to turn to unconventional sources like foodbanks and dumpster diving. That people need to rely on charity and scavenging is a failure of society. We don't need to see people literally starving to death to accept that people have a problem getting enough food.
- yummyfajitas 14y agoI'm looking at one of your citations now, and it lumps all households below about $20k into the 'poor' bracket. That's actually very likely the right thing to do. Thanks to various wealth transfer programs, anyone with earned income <$20k has consumption of approximately $20k. ftp://ftp.bls.gov/pub/special.requests/ce/standard/2009/income.txt We don't need to see people literally starving to death to accept that people have a problem getting enough food. Are people even becoming slightly less fat? That will happen long before anyone starves.
- agilescale 14y agoSo if everybody eats potatoes and bread all day... that's enough for you because it satisfies an incredibly obtuse quantitative metric?
- yummyfajitas 13y agoIf someone gets fat off potatoes and bread they are consuming too much. They could reduce consumption of potatoes/bread and spend the money they save on vegetables.
- agilescale 13y agoThis whole discussion is an example of why reductionism should be handled with care. Have you considered how easy it is to stuff yourself with simple carbohydrates? Do you
- Evbn 13y agoFat people have lots of fat. Muscle and bone amd cardiovascula health and brain mylenation are another matter.
- MisterBastahrd 14y agoCalories are not nutrition. Food loaded with sugar and preservatives is much cheaper than healthy foods, and it also happens to be more readily available. Many poor neighborhoods don't have grocery stores where one can purchase fresh fruit and vegetables, but they do have convenience stores where you can buy all the candybars and junk food you can eat... at a considerable markup.