Living in Poverty Worse For Your Health Than Obesity, Smoking

by Josie Raymond · 2010-01-05 10:57:00 UTC
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Photo: dumbledadObesity is bad for your health. Smoking is worse. And according to a new study from Columbia University, living in poverty is worst of all.

People whose household earnings rank them in the nation's bottom third (that's up to double the federal poverty level) lose more than 8 healthy years off their lives. As a comparison, smokers lose almost 7 years and the obese miss out on more than 4 healthy years.

Let the speculation begin: what's cause and what's effect? Aren't the poor more likely to become obese and start smoking? How much of a factor is stress? Other influential barometers highlighted in the study include being "non-Hispanic black race" and uninsured. It doesn't take a university researcher to figure out the correlation, though we're sure the government-funded studies are currently underway.

Photo credit: dumbledad

Josie Raymond has reported from the streets of the South Bronx, written for several magazines that folded (not her fault) and fixed thousands of typos.
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