There is an association between poverty and poor health. This association is quite easy to explain in Third World developing countries, as the poorest often do not have access to adequate quantities of protein or clean drinking water. Therefore the risk of immune related conditions, particularly upper respiratory tract infections is high. However, this association also exists in developed Western countries and is much harder to explain amongst these populations. The main problems with the association between poverty and poor health in the West is that the diseases that are associated with poverty are not the same. While poor people die of upper respiratory tract infections in Third World countries, in the West they tend to die of Western lifestyle diseases including cardiovascular disease and cancer. In addition, there is no shortage of availability of clean water or healthy cheap food in the West. Therefore there may be other more complex factors that drives the association between poverty and poor health in the West.
The poor tend to buy low quality packaged foods. This may explain the association between ill health and poverty that is seen in Western countries. However, other cultural factors are also at play. For example, non-hispanic African American households in the United States have been shown to purchase higher sugar and sodium containing foods compared to other ethnic groups. This would indicate perhaps that the types of foods eaten by this ethnic group are very different to other ethnic groups, and this may have an influence on health. As ethnicity is related to socioeconomic status in some countries, this may in part explain the association. Further, if poverty is associated with ill health, and this is linked to poor food choices, it could be that poor food choices keep people poor. Low quality food is known to negatively affect growth and development and a number of cognitive functions. Therefore it could be that those who eat low quality packaged foods never fulfil their potential and therefore are unable to land the best jobs that reward with the highest salaries. There could also be genetic factors at play. Clearly the issue is highly complex and the factors that interact are likely numerous.
It has been suggested that the poor in developed countries do not have the same access to fresh produce as the rich. This is often explained through the increased mobility of the rich compared to the poor. The basis of the argument is that the poor often have to rely on local corner and non-specialist shops for food, which in turn are much less likely to stock healthy fresh produce. However, this may not be the case. For example, one study examined the types of foods bought by groups of individuals in a number of types of stores. What they found was that shopping at grocery chains was not associated with a higher quality of food purchase, when the same families shopped at large or small discount stores that did not offer the same quality of nutrition. In other words, families that ate low quality foods, bought these foods even when fresh healthy produce was available. What people buy is therefore not dependent on the stores available to them, but reflects other more complex factors, perhaps with education or cultural influences
Eat Well, Stay Healthy, Protect Yourself
RdB
