Hazem Younis
ENG 102
William Curl

Malnourishment in the United States Malnourishment in the United States is caused mainly by the consumption of unhealthy, cheap foods that are low in nutrition and composed of calories and fat. Consumption of these foods eventually leads to obesity. As surprising as it may seem, one of the factors affecting obesity is poverty. As a matter of fact, there can be no doubts that poverty and obesity are interconnected. The more attention focused on this issue, the healthier citizens will be. A significant portion of our country’s population is either overweight or obese. Several families suffer from food problems such as obesity and hunger, which take place when access to nutritionally satisfactory and safe foods is either restricted or unstable. Although it seems unreasonable, since scarcity of food should result in underweight people. Nevertheless, children from families with low income are more likely to suffer obesity than children from wealthy families. This means that impoverished citizens are in some kind of unfavorable conditions when it comes to obesity. The reality is that not all American households have the financial capabilities to provide satisfactory housing, transportation, medical assistance, education, food, and clothing that all families need. Many families opt to buy cheaper less nutritional foods instead of healthy more expensive ones. That is why lower income families are at the highest disadvantage of malnutrition.
Each year about $100 billion is spent on health-care due to obesity (Abramovitz 21). Obesity, the condition of an abnormal accumulation of body fat, has a negative effect on different body systems. Those negative effects show in various forms such as psychological, neurological, and cardiovascular. “Obesity is central to the development of many chronic diseases such as type 2 diabetes, heart disease, hypertension, and cancer. Solving the obesity problem can save health care money which could be used for improvement of the living conditions of low income citizens through paying for housing or college education. One of the factors that contribute to obesity in poor families is fast food restaurant chains. These restaurants don’t make it a secret in their advertising campaigns that their target customers are lower-class neighborhoods and families. Impoverished families that are much more exposed to fast food than people living in the wealthy neighborhoods. Also, families with low income are more likely to purchase cheap fast food, although it is much less nutritious than other foods that can be bought for the same price. Despite their cheap price, these foods contain enormous amounts of calories and fat. Typically, calories in junk food come from sugar and fat, but not from whole-grain carbohydrates and fiber that satisfy hunger cravings and provide you with energy. As a consequence, one will be hungry soon after eating fast food because the body was not satisfied due to the lack of nutrition during the last meal. This leads to more consumption of food which accumulates fats in the body that leads to obesity. The consumption of more organic foods can tackle obesity and malnourishment. Unlike fast food, organic foods are not toxic and have more useful nutrients. However, their prices are usually high, and families with low income cannot afford them.
Organic food is expensive due to a number of different factors. Today only a small number of American citizens buy organic foods on a regular basis. Ultimately, if the demand for organics grows the price should go down. Many steps must be taken to stop the trend of increasing obesity among the families with low income. Helping the poor abandon their poverty is the top priority. The government could help by funding poor students’ college education in order for these students to achieve higher income jobs in the future. This investment would surely ease the students out of poverty. In