Originally Posted by
Carbonfiberboy
Yes, industrial food production has created a surplus of very cheap "food" which is purchased by poor people because it's all they can afford. These products are made available through a hyper-saturation of the marketplace. The ideal in cities is to have junk food outlets no more than 100 yards apart. The lack of micronutrients in junk food explains the phenomenon of obese poor people.
Our system is now failing to keep people living longer. Only the relatively wealthy are living longer. The US has a higher rate of infant mortality than many East European countries:
https://www.cia.gov/library/publicat.../2091rank.html
Mississippi has a higher infant mortality rate than Botswana:
Infant Mortality Rate (Deaths per 1,000 Live Births) | The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation
These are the results posted by our system.
Yes, I agree that the American disease-care system is not very good at promoting health.
And, yes, the poor are hit disproportionately hard with the fast food/cheap processed food wave. But the wave is not limited to them: Last year was the first year that more money was spent in restaurants than in grocery stores. And, one of the big winners (surprisingly since they were supposed to be losers in the shift towards healthy foods) was McDonald's...
One theory is:
"Where did the money from $2.00 gasoline go (savings did not increase -- although debt decreased)?
... One answer is: To McDonald's as the soccer mom's stopped there and at Dairy Queen after practice...
My personal experience is that the nation has divided on food just as it has politically: some celebrate eating junk while others are very serious about their healthy diets with fewer in the middle...
... I belong to a running group where, although all are very fitness conscious, a large segment have large bellies from the high fat/high sugar diets that they celebrate eating after practice runs... I suspect it is the old theory that running "burns off" "bad" calories -- and part of that is that many equate a healthy body and diet to weight only -- yet overweight has become the new normal so people are no longer embarrassed because even the guys look like their carrying a baby...