Link Between Poverty and Childhood Obesity in Canada

Poverty and Obesity

Evidence is mounting that many Canadians are not getting enough to eat. Among the most vulnerable are people living with poverty . The following statistics begin to paint a picture of poverty in Canada.

• In 1998 -- 99, the Statistics Canada National Population Health Survey (NPHS) reported that 2.4 million Canadians were food insecure -- or unable to get enough or the appropriate kinds of food (Rainville and Brink 2001).

• In the 2000 -- 01 Canadian Community Health Survey (CCHS),8.2percent of BC residents reported "sometimes" or "often" not having enough to eat due to lack of money; 11.6% reported "sometimes" or "often" worrying that there wouldn't be enough to eat; and 14.8% reported "sometimes" or "often" not eating the quality of food they wanted (Statistics Canada, 2001 -- 02).

Parallel to the persistent and growing poverty in Canada is the escalating crisis of obesity. Obesity refers to excess amounts of body fat. Men with more than 25% body fat and women with more than 30% body fat are considered obese. Body mass index (BMI) has become the standard used to measure overweight and obesity. BMI uses a formula based on a person's height and weight. BMI equals weight in kilograms divided by height in meters squared (BMI = kg/m2). A BMI of 25 to 29.9 indicates a person is overweight. A person with a BMI of 30 or higher is considered obese.

For those who are food insecure and nutrient-poor, high calorie foods are a serious risk factor. Obesity is a problem impacting a large part of the population. The following statistics reveal the extent of obesity, the populations affected, as well as some important relationships between this condition and poverty, food insecurity, and chronic disease.

• Obesity rates among Canadian children have doubled in the last 15 years. The number of overweight boys aged 7 -- 13 years has increased from 15% in 1981 to 28.8% in 1996 and among girls this number grew from 15% to 23.6% (Tremblay and Willms 2000).

• Rates of overweight conferring a "probable health risk" (Body Mass Index of over 27) have more than doubled in BC, with 26.4% of the province's adults now overweight, up from 11% in 1985. While BC still has the lowest rates of overweight residents in the country, the increase has been sharper than the national average (Coleman et al. 2001).

• In a study of Canadian children, 6.4% of children in the wealthiest quarter of the Canadian population were obese as compared with 12.8% of those in the poorest socioeconomic quarter (Tremblay and Willms 2003).