Health and wealth. The late-20th century obesity epidemic in the U.S

Obesity is a rapidly growing public health issue. This paper investigates obesity's relationship to individuals' wealth by analyzing data from a large U.S. longitudinal socio-economic survey. The results show a large negative association between BMI and White female's net worth, a sma...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Economics and human biology 2005-07, Vol.3 (2), p.296-313
Main Author: Zagorsky, Jay L
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Data Collection
Female
Health Status
Humans
Longitudinal Studies
Male
Obesity - epidemiology
Social Class
United States - epidemiology
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:Obesity is a rapidly growing public health issue. This paper investigates obesity's relationship to individuals' wealth by analyzing data from a large U.S. longitudinal socio-economic survey. The results show a large negative association between BMI and White female's net worth, a smaller negative association for Black women and White males and no relationship for Black males. Weight changes and dieting also appear associated with wealth changes. Individuals who lose small amounts of weight experience little change in net worth, but those who lose large amounts of weight have a dramatically improved financial position, with Whites showing larger changes than Blacks.
ISSN:1570-677X
1873-6130
DOI:10.1016/j.ehb.2005.05.003