Survey: The Homeless Population Also Suffers From Obesity

Wikipedia

A new study published in the Journal of Urban Health shows that one in three people experiencing homelessness in the United States is suffering from obesity, making the rate of obesity for the indigent nearly as high as that of the general population. .

The study also showed how two out of three homeless individuals were either overweight or obese. Only 32.6 percent were normal weight and 1.6 percent were underweight.

“Although underweight has been traditionally associated with homelessness, this study suggests that obesity may have replaced underweight as the new malnutrition of the homeless,”

the authors wrote, according to CNN Health.

The study points out that nutrition is a daily challenge for homeless people, because many of them don’t have access to fresh fruits and vegetables.

“Homeless people don’t have the ability to choose,” Barbara Dipietro, policy director of the National Health Care for the Homeless Council said to CNN Health. “They eat what they’re

given. When you’re moneyless, you don’t have a stove or fridge. You don’t have a place to store food or prepare it. Everything you buy is easy-to-go, that you can store in the bag for later – that’s high in preservatives like canned foods.”

“Our results are in line with [the] hunger-obesity paradox,” one of the authors, Paul Montgomery, said to CNN Health. “People feel hungry. The body’s response is the higher calories, you store them and become obese, and you still feel hungry. It’s a circular problem.”

Montgomery also told the news station that it is the lowest socioeconomic group who has the biggest obesity problem.


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