THE tragedy behind the effects of poverty is that it impacts the mental capacity of the poor, causes them to age faster and get fatter due to the poor diet and nutrition.
This is according findings of academic research into the impact of poverty.
This runs counter to the common intuition that sees poverty as an outcome of other conditions. There are now major academic studies which show the detrimental effect that poverty has on many other aspects of the poor person’s life.
In the 19th century, a person who was overweight with “love handles” was an indication of wealth.
The Belgium painter Rubens was well known for featuring voluptuous women in is paintings – the beauty ideal back then.
Poor people used to be thin because the work they did required as much energy as the staple they were eating.
Post-World War II, due to more research into diet and nutrition, this has reversed. Usually, the rich people are mostly slimmer and the idea of beauty has also reversed.
Even in most African countries, obesity is now a bigger problem than hunger.
Do note: the underlying theme of malnutrition persists. The reason: the emergence of cheap, fast, calorie-rich (but vitamin poor) food through industrial food production and global supply chains (as well as an unhealthy dose of subsidies).
Nutritious food is still expensive and that’s why it is no wonder that obesity rates are lower for the middle and upper class.
When you are poor, as research has shown, the quality of sleep is directly tied to your social-economic status.
One reason it that those who live in poverty are under constant stress and live in lower quality housing with less quiet time.
How does poverty make you age faster and get sicker? A short biology lesson: you have caps on your chromosomes called “telomeres”, which protect against ageing.
The longer the telomeres, the longer your cells can regenerate and the longer you’ll live.
The bad news is that stress and a poor diet have a severe effect on the telomeres and causes accelerated ageing. You will have a higher chance of being diagnosed with ageing diseases, such as Alzheimer’s.
If ageing faster isn’t enough, poverty is also likely to reduce your lifespan.
This is especially true for poor people who were able to lift themselves out of poverty!
Why? According to researcher Geoffrey Miller, of Northwestern University in Illinois, lifting yourself out of poverty takes an enormous amount of stress, energy and focus and is a major assault on your body as you push your fatigued body to its limits in order to escape your situation.
After burning the candle on both ends, your body catches up to you and your life expectancy is reduced.
Research from Cornell University shows that being poor does have an impact on your intellectual capacity due to the stress and poor nutrition.
Chronic stress from growing up in poverty impacts children’s brains and impairs their working memory while diminishing their ability to talk, read and solve problems.
The silver lining is that if we want people to live longer, healthier, happier lives, we have to attack poverty.
The rest will follow.
Mark Reijman is co-founder and managing director of www.CompareHero.my, dedicated to increasing financial literacy and to help you save time and money by comparing all credit cards, personal loans and broadband plans in Malaysia.
* Editor's note: While economic growth remains vital for reducing poverty, growth has its limits, according to a World Bank paper released in April 2014. Countries need to complement efforts to enhance growth with policies that allocate more resources to the extreme poor.
These resources can be distributed through the growth process itself, by promoting more inclusive growth, or through government programmes, such as conditional and direct cash transfers.
In addition, the paper notes, it is imperative not just to lift people out of extreme poverty; it is also important to make sure that, in the long run, they do not get stuck just above the extreme poverty line due to a lack of opportunities that might impede progress toward better livelihoods.
Limited time offer:
Just RM5 per month.
