Obesity among poor Americans
Subtitle: is public assistance the problem?
By: Patricia K. Smith.
Publisher: Vanderbilt University Press
Published: 2009
Place of publication: Nashville, Tenn
Language: eng
Number of pages: 197
ISBN-13: 9780826516350; 9780826516367
Subjects: Obesity -- United States -- Etiology; Obesity -- Social aspects -- United States; Poverty -- Health aspects -- United States; Public welfare -- United States; Obesity -- etiology -- United States; Poverty -- United States; Public Assistance -- United States
Description: This book investigates the controversial claim by welfare critics that public assistance programs like the Food Stamp and National School Lunch programs contribute to obesity among the poor. The author synthesizes empirical evidence from an array of disciplines--anthropology, economics, epidemiology, marketing, medicine, nutrition science, psychology, public health, sociology, and urban planning--to test this claim and to test whether other causal processes are at work. --From publisher's description.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: Trends in obesity, poverty, and public assistance; title: The "welfare causes obesity" hypothesis; title: The "obesity causes welfare" hypothesis; title: The "poverty causes both welfare and obesity" hypothesis; title: The "factor X causes obesity and welfare" hypothesis; title: Common threads and conclusions.