Thestresswhat does theeconomic insecuritymakes people living in countries governed by the so-called “free market”more likely to become obese, according to a British study published in the journalEconomics and Human Biology.
According to Avner Offer, professor of economic history and director of the research, “Policies to reduce levels of obesity tend to focus on encouraging people to take care of themselves, but this study suggests that obesity has broader social causes.” . “The economic benefits of flexible and open markets have a cost in terms of public and personal health that is rarely taken into account,” says the expert.
Offer’s team compared four English-speaking countries with liberal market forms (the United States, Great Britain, Canada, and Australia) with seven relatively wealthy nations in Europe that traditionally have higher social protection (Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Norway, Spain and Sweden). And he found that the first four presented on averagea third more obesity, linked to economic insecurity.
Furthermore, according to Offer, the emergence and rise of obesity on a large scale began during the 1980s, coinciding with the rise of market liberalism in English-speaking countries.
To rule out other factors, the team of researchers hasalso measured the impact of the availability of high calorie foods, as well asfast food chainsand supermarkets. Their findings indicate that “the availability of fast food has half the effect of economic insecurity on the prevalence of obesity.”
