• Ending Childhood Hunger by 2015
  • Seven Essential Strategies
  • Campaign to End Childhood Hunger
• Building Economic Security
  • SNAP/Food Stamps Provide Real Stimulus
• Fighting Obesity and Hunger
  • Overweight and Obesity Definitions
  • Overweight and Obesity in the U.S.
  • Overweight and Obesity State and Local Data
  • Consequences of Adult Overweight and Obesity
  • Consequences of Childhood Overweight and Obesity
  • Factors Contributing to Overweight and Obesity
  • Relationship Between Poverty and Overweight or Obesity
  • Relationship Between Hunger and Overweight or Obesity
  • Why Low-Income and Food Insecure People are Vulnerable to Overweight and Obesity
  • Role of the Federal Nutrition Programs in Combating Overweight and Obesity
  • Additional Resources
• Addressing Senior Hunger
  • Seniors and SNAP/Food Stamps
  • Improving Participation among Seniors

Relationship Between Poverty and Overweight or Obesity

While overweight and obesity impact both genders and all racial-ethnic and age groups, research shows that those of low-income or low socioeconomic status (SES) – particularly children and women - may be at even greater risk.  Emerging research also suggests that (1) such disparities may be weakening or shifting as higher income and SES groups “catch-up”, and (2) the relationship between income, or SES, and weight can vary by age, gender, or race-ethnicity (Chang & Lauderdale, 2005; Wang & Zhang, 2006; Zhang & Wang, 2004).  The studies below highlight just some of the current research on this complicated relationship.  Overall, the research for a greater risk is more consistent for women and children of low-income or low SES (especially White women and children) than for men.  (Note that SES may be defined by income, education, employment, or a combination of these factors.)

Note that other sections of the FRAC website describe the relationship between food insecurity and obesity (see the section on the Relationship Between Hunger and Overweight or Obesity) as well as potential explanations for the relationship between low-income, food insecurity, and obesity (see the section on Why Low-Income and Food Insecure People are Vulnerable to Overweight and Obesity).

Adult Overweight/Obesity and Income/SES

• Based on a large national study, body mass index (or BMI, an indicator of excess body fat) was higher every year between 1986 and 2002 among adults in the lowest income group and the lowest education group (Truong & Sturm, 2005).
• In a recent review of the scientific literature published between 1988 and 2004, 63 percent of reviewed studies of women in industrialized countries found that women with lower SES were more likely to have a higher body size (McLaren, 2007).  Such a relationship was less consistent for men.
• Over the past three decades, White and Black women consistently experienced higher rates of obesity as income decreased (Chang & Lauderdale, 2005).  In more recent years, Black and Mexican-American men had higher obesity rates and White men lower obesity rates as income increased (Chang & Lauderdale, 2005).
• One national survey, conducted in 1999-2000, found that White women, White men, and Black men who were less educated (less than a high school degree) had higher obesity rates compared to their better educated counterparts, but Black women with less education had lower obesity rates (Zhang & Wang, 2004).
• Another national study using 1999-2004 data observed higher rates of obesity among women, but not men, in the lowest poverty-income ratio (PIR) category (Ogden et al., 2007).  Compared to their counterparts, rates of obesity were higher among White women in the lowest PIR category (PIR ? 130), Black women in the middle PIR category, and Mexican-American men in the highest PIR category (PIR ? 350) (Ogden et al., 2007).

Childhood Overweight/Obesity and Income/SES

• Rates of severe obesity were approximately 1.7 times higher among poor children and adolescents in a nationally representative sample of over 12,000 children (Skelton et al., 2009).
• Obesity rates increased by 10 percent for all U.S. children between 2003 and 2007, but by 23 percent during the same time period for low-income children (Singh et al., 2010). This national study of over 40,000 children also found that in 2007, children from lower SES households had 3-4 times higher odds of being obese than children from higher SES households (Singh et al., 2010).
• In California, higher area poverty rates were strongly associated with higher childhood overweight rates (Drewnowski et al., 2009).
• Rates of obesity were over 50 percent higher among older adolescents in poor families compared to non-poor families, based on a large national survey from 1999-2004 (Miech et al., 2006).
• In a national study of over 46,000 children, poor Hispanic, White, and Black children had 2.7, 1.9, and 3.2 greater odds of being obese, respectively, than affluent White children (Singh et al., 2008).
• National data from 1999-2002 revealed that, in general, obesity rates were higher for young boys and adolescent girls in the low-SES category compared to their counterparts in the medium-SES and high-SES categories (Wang & Zhang, 2006).  However, few significant associations emerged between SES and obesity in statistical models adjusted for age, gender, and race (Wang & Zhang, 2006).  The exception: African-American adolescent girls with a high SES were twice as likely to be obese as their medium SES counterparts (Wang & Zhang, 2006).
• Using NHANES data from 1999-2004, one study of White, African-American, and Mexican-American children 6 to 19 years of age found an inverse relationship between income and obesity among White and Mexican-American children, but a positive relationship among Black children that was most evident among Black girls (Freedman et al., 2007).  Using different analyses with NHANES 1999-2004 data in another study, researchers found no significant trends for income and obesity among children except for a strong inverse trend among White girls (i.e., higher obesity rates in lower income categories) (Ogden et al., 2007).