Poverty Is Literally Making People Sick Because They Can't Afford Food

[xchrom]

http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2014/01/poverty-is-literally-making-people-sick-because-they-cant-afford-food/283032/




Income inequality is making us sick.

Well, it's not making all of us sick. Only the poorest of us. That's what a new paper in Health Affairs by Hilary Seligman, Ann Bolger, David Guzman, Andrea López, and Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo found they looked at when people go to the hospital for hypoglycemia (low blood sugar).

The basic idea is that people struggling to make it paycheck-to-paycheck (or benefits-to-benefits) might run out of money at the end of the month—and have to cut back on food. If they have diabetes, this hunger could turn into an even more severe health problem: low blood sugar. So we should expect a surge of hypoglycemia cases at the end of each month for low-income people, but not for anybody else.

That's what researchers found when they looked at the numbers for California between 2000 and 2008. As you can see in their chart below, low-income people (red line) were <27 percent more likely to be hospitalized for hypoglycemia in the last week of the month than in the first. There was no week-to-week difference for high-income people (orange line).

[xchrom]

1. kick

[marmar]

2. k/r

[closeupready]

3. Oh, nonsense. There's always hamburger, right?

And if not, tofu makes a great substitute.

[KitSileya]

8. And they should eat beans and rice - so easy to cook!

Everyone knows they should buy a bag of beans and cook it regularly on their hot plate in what little time they have between jobs - because of course they have a place to keep the uncooked beans, to cook the beans, and to store the cooked beans, in their tiny apartments/motel rooms/friend's couches/cars - as well as the money for the electricity to cook the beans, the know how to cook the beans, and the time to cook the beans. Oh, and the gas money to get to a store to buy the bag of beans in their food deserts.

indeed.

[closeupready]

9. lol yep.

[closeupready]

10. By the way that reminds me of something I saw recently,

a segment from GMA on Youtube - don't know if someone posted it here, but if not, here it is:

[KitSileya]

11. Yes, SAHM (white, middle class) can do these things.

Demanding that all poor people do the same or better, which is what many do, is insane. How many parents who work 2 or 3 jobs will have time to do that? Many families don't have a computer, let alone a printer. Many don't have the space for a pantry like that. They don't have a variety of stores to shop in, gas to get to the stores, access to the Sunday paper. And so on.

The reporter and the GMA anchors were flabbergasted at what this woman managed, but apparently all poor people are supposed to manage it in order to be 'worthy' of things like SNAP benefits, and to pull themselves out of poverty. It's like demanding everyone should manage to do a 2 meter high jump before getting health care. Some few would be able to, but we'd stand amazed and look as they do it.

[closeupready]

12. I know. Utterly ridiculous. How many poor people even have CARS?

Let alone - as you say - time to clip coupons? Cupboards?? Yet, here Ms. Sawyer is, the - what? - $20 million news reader, gushing enviously on the show. As if we are that stupid.

[WinkyDink]

14. Heh---I'm on my 3rd night of red beans and rice (excuse to consume Texas Pete Hot Sauce).

[BuelahWitch]

15. Thank you!

Don't you also have to soak the beans for so long before you cook them? Cooking regular rice out of the bag is no picnic either. I doubt many people have a rice cooker. Uncle Ben's and other types of rice are easier to cook, but more expensive...

[jsr]

4. Our "national security" comes first.

[WinkyDink]

5. NOT exactly a newsflash, except maybe from The Medieval Times, ca. 1300.

[CFLDem]

6. +1

[MisterP]

7. yer ten years off!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Famine_of_1315–1317

and the other one:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Famine_(Ireland)

[notemason]

13. Help from the Hill

Hanging around here for years, tho this is my first post; autistic, trouble with emotions so prefer to just read but circumstances of late encouraged me to respond to this thread with first hand knowledge of trying to feed yourself during hard times. Took care of mother until her passing last year (peacefully in her own bed) at 94 and with her passing I was left alone with an income of 600 per month SS from what jobs I had been able to perform over the years. Local SS office told me to sign up for food stamps and was given 140 per month. Tried to find work but at 66 it's not happening then I get a letter from SS saying I'm eligible for SSI because of my age (they know you can't find work) and would receive 113 monthly in supplemental benefits. Certainly welcome news but tempered somewhat by recent letter from the SNAP program saying that since I was awarded the 113 per month in SSI funds, food stamps would be cut from 140 to 79 monthly. Go figure.

[Babel_17]

16. First hand accounts are important to this site

Thank you for sharing your experience. Hopefully you'll find some helpful resources here at DU.

If you are like me and cancelled cable TV to save money, here's one site, out of many, that legally offers lots of free entertainment.

http://www.crackle.com/

Some free SF e-books: http://www.baenebooks.com/c-1-free-library.aspx