If You're Poor in America, You Can Be Both Overweight and Hungry
Cycles of poverty make families vulnerable to food insecurity.
A nutritional challenge.
Photographer: John Moore/Getty ImagesThe U.S. is notorious for its weight problem. With just 5% of the world’s population, it’s home to 13% of the world’s overweight and obese people. Roughly two-thirds of adults in the U.S. are overweight or obese and, even more alarming, 38% of boys and girls ages 10 to 14 are.
On first glance, these numbers seem to reflect overabundance — Americans have more food than is good for them. But the problem is more complicated than that, and worse: Many of the same people who struggle with extra weight also regularly go to bed hungry. That may sound like an impossible contradiction, but dig deeper, and it quickly becomes clear how hunger and obesity are related. Both are often rooted in poverty.