Obesity, Economic Inequality & the Food Supply

Growing up on the farm in rural America - sounds healthy, right?

Not always.

There's a correlation in America between body weight and income, but it is the exact opposite of that of the developing world: as income levels decrease, obesity increases - both in urban and rural settings. So despite having enormous amounts of food, low-income Americans are not as healthy as one would expect. 

What's going on?

Industrial food & trading quantity for quality. Tom Philpott explains over at his excellent environmental news blog:

Strains within the system are starting to show. Simply put, industrial food is making the people who rely on it sick and fat, to the point that U.S. life expectancy looks set to decline for the first time in two centuries.

It's a great article with a ton of interesting links. just read it. and then go figure out how to fix it.