Unprocessed by Kimberley Wilson

Author:Kimberley Wilson [Wilson, Kimberley]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780753559772
Publisher: Ebury Publishing
Published: 2023-01-19T00:00:00+00:00

Food and the Cycle of Poverty

Calorie for calorie, healthier foods are on average three times more expensive than less healthy, more processed foods, and if this trend continues (as it is predicted to) then healthier diets will simply become unaffordable for many. Already, wealthier women are more likely to adhere to a healthy diet during pregnancy. In studies that look at UPFD consumption in children, it is the children of poorer mothers who are more likely to eat industrially produced foods and more of them. Why is this? As well as being cheaper, they are quicker to prepare so use less energy. There is also a greater density of fast-food outlets and advertising in areas of deprivation compared to wealthier regions.

So, poorer people are priced out of healthier diets. What else do we know about the impact of social inequality on public health? The Indian caste system provides a powerful example of the strong relationship between social status, wealth and health. In India (and the Indian diaspora) the majority Hindu population is hierarchically organised into castes, which dictate someone’s social position in a rigid and reinforced structure that is near impossible to escape.

The castes in descending order are Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas and Shudras. People considered so lowly as not to have a class – Dalits or Scheduled Caste – are considered ‘impure’ or ‘untouchable’, and live under the constant threat of violence or exclusion. Caste membership is considered hereditary and signified by surname, making someone’s social position instantly recognisable on introduction. Furthermore, individuals typically marry within their caste. This means that wide-scale discrimination severely limits the opportunities for social mobility and the outcome is that people in this group experience huge levels of health and economic disadvantage. In India a woman from a dominant caste lives 15 years longer than a Dalit woman. And in the UK? A reminder that, here, the poorest live with 19 additional years of ill health and die seven years sooner than the rich. But this differential was not created by millennia of faith-based discrimination. So how did we get here?

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