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Big_Bird
Joined: 31 Jan 2003
Location: Sometimes here sometimes there...
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 Posted: Thu Feb 19, 2009 5:59 pm Post subject: The economic crisis might make you fat! |
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As economic belt tightens, waistlines could widen
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Public health analysts are warning that the economic downturn could worsen Australia's obesity and diabetes problems.
The global financial uncertainty is certainly changing the spending habits of consumers, but while many people are simply buying less expensive versions of essential products, others are making far less healthy choices.
Nutritionists say they are particularly concerned about the recent growth in sales at fast food outlets.
The giant of the sector, McDonalds, is expecting to open 39 new stores this year.
On Wednesday morning, a Sydney McDonald's outlet was doing a brisk trade, but not everyone was thinking of the economy.
"I've got a hangover so I've just gone to McDonalds. It's got nothing to do with really any economic thing," one person said.
But others did see fast food consumption as a product of financial uncertainty.
"We used to do fancy dinners every Friday night, and we probably wouldn't go to the same restaurants as we used to," another person said.
It's a familiar pattern to Tim Gill from the University of Sydney's Institute of Obesity, Nutrition and Exercise.
"I think that there's a misconception that in times of economic hardship, people will be forced to return to basic foodstuffs and as a result, like during the war times, that their health will actually improve," he said.
"But analysis of previous economic downturns has shown that what happens is that there's a contraction of spending on food and a substitution of less healthy foods for healthier more basic food stuffs, and as a result health actually decreases rather than improves."
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Rusty Shackleford
Joined: 08 May 2008
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| Posted: Thu Feb 19, 2009 6:28 pm Post subject: |
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| This is classic. In the Great Depression people didn't have enough to eat. In this one we are worried about getting fatter. |
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Kuros
Joined: 27 Apr 2004
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| Posted: Thu Feb 19, 2009 8:20 pm Post subject: |
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Eh, not convinced. McDonalds is convenient, but some will turn to Quaker's Oats and Lentil Stews instead of the darkside. Yes, a lot of the poor will turn to McDonalds, but that would be a function of the poor being at least as ignorant and indolent than simply indigent.
The most valuable thing in this article is something I already knew: McDonalds is fantastic for a hangover. |
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mises
Joined: 05 Nov 2007
Location: retired
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| Posted: Fri Feb 20, 2009 9:39 am Post subject: |
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| Yes. Some poor people might gain a few pounds. The employed journalists who wrote this better hope their paper doesn't go under. Ditto for the nutritionists who are "concerned". They might have to eat next to the proletariat |
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ontheway
Joined: 24 Aug 2005
Location: Somewhere under the rainbow...
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| Posted: Fri Feb 20, 2009 10:10 am Post subject: |
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Since this might turn out to be worse than the 30s ...
| mises wrote: |
| Yes. Some poor people might gain a few pounds. The employed journalists who wrote this better hope their paper doesn't go under. Ditto for the nutritionists who are "concerned". They might have to eat the proletariat |
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