Obesity might worsen during credit crunch: study

People are doing everything they can to manage and keep their finances healthy, however, trying to strive for financial health is impacting people's physical health.  

A Germany study on indebtedness and obesity has found that 25% of 949 study participants who were in debt were medically obese compared to 11% of the other 8 318 study participants who were not.  

"Over-indebtedness was associated with an increased prevalence of overweight and obesity that was not explained by traditional definitions of socioeconomic status," Eva Münster, from the University of Mainz, Germany, and her colleagues concluded in Friday's online issue of the journal BMC Public Health, .

Usually debt is not considered when looking at health, this study tried to fill that gap.

The study's authors defined over-indebtedness as "lack of possible debt redemption in due time due to the relation of income and cost of living after a remarkable cutback in standard of living."

The cutback in standard of living can be seen in the limitation of leisure time activities and the ability to attend social events, said researchers.  

Another important area where standard of living is being affected is the purchasing of nutritious foods.  

People are putting on pounds because of their inability to purchase nutritious foods.  

"Energy-dense foods such as sweets or fatty snacks are often less expensive compared to food with lower energy density such as fruit or vegetables," Münster said in a news release.

Over-indebtedness was associated with a 1.97 times higher odds for being overweight and 2.56 times higher odds for obesity, after adjusting for age, sex, education, income and health factors such as depression and smoking.

This is evidence that workplace wellness programs have become vital now more than ever. It is important to implement workplace wellness programs that target the health and wellbeing of employees as they scramble to hold onto all their income they can.

One important area to start tackling this problem is in the workplace.  Adults spend most of their waking hours at work, and most jobs out there require little or no physical activity.  

Workplace wellness programs are a beneficial option.  They encourage and provide an opportunity for adults to stay active and access the appropriate resources they need for optimal health and wellbeing.  

Many organizations are trying to cut back on operational costs, however, with the economic recession employees are making poor choices because they can save some money.

It is time for organizations to spend in order to receive and keep employees healthy.

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Posted by: suhujitha on 2009-08-07 16:47:52

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