A disturbing statistic revealing the dismal state of health in America is that more than 40% of the population is obese (defined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as having a body mass index of 30 or higher); nearly 10% are morbidly obese. It’s shocking how these numbers have increased over the years; in the 1960s, only 13% of the population was seriously overweight. And it isn’t just adults who are affected; one in three American children are overweight or obese today, compared to only around 5% as recently as the late 1970s.

Obesity is associated with some of the most serious health problems facing Americans, including Type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure (hypertension), kidney failure, heart disease, heart attacks and strokes, sleep apnea and other breathing disorders, gallbladder and liver diseases and even certain types of cancers.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, obesity was the most frequent comorbidity in patients who died with the disease. In September 2020, Science magazine published data showing that obese individuals who contracted COVID-19 were “113% more likely than people of healthy weight to land in the hospital, 74% more likely to be admitted to an ICU, and 48% more likely to die.” Of the COVID-19 patients under 45 years old who died, 60% were obese.

The statistical correlation between race, obesity and death from COVID-19 was dramatic. As I wrote in an October 2020 column, citing CDC data:

“Non-Hispanic Blacks represent 13% of the U.S. population but have the highest COVID-19 mortality rate of any group — two times that of whites and Asians. The next highest mortality group is among indigenous peoples (less than 1% of the population), followed by Latinos (only 16.7% of the population). Asian Americans have the lowest mortality rate from COVID-19. … (T)hese results are closely tracking obesity rates. Non-Hispanic Blacks have the highest obesity rate in the U.S. (49.6%), followed by Native Americans (48.1%), Hispanics (44.8%) and non-Hispanic whites (42.2%). Non-Hispanic Asians have the lowest rate (17.4%).”

A huge factor here is poverty. Historically, poverty was associated with malnutrition and starvation, and in poor or undeveloped nations, it still is. But in highly developed nations like the United States, poverty is now a predictor of obesity. It should therefore not come as a surprise that the statistical correlations between race and obesity closely track those of race and poverty. According to the 2020 Census, 19.5% of Non-Hispanic Blacks in America live in poverty, followed by 17% of Hispanics. Whites and Asians have the lowest rates of poverty, at 8.2% and 8.1%, respectively.

Despite spending $22 trillion on anti-poverty programs since former President Lyndon Johnson’s “Great Society” initiatives were launched in 1965, the poverty rate in America has remained stubbornly between 11% and 15%. Not only are our anti-poverty programs not reducing poverty, they have created serious public health problems in America’s poor. We have the same percentage of people in poverty today that we did in 1973, but four times as many who are obese.

During the 43-day (so far) government shutdown, Americans were told — daily — that 42 million people are on food stamps (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program). Politicians have tried to inspire sympathy for SNAP recipients facing denial of their benefits, but this is undermined by TikTok videos made by morbidly obese people showing the junk food they buy with their EBT cards and threatening to rob grocery stores if they don’t get their SNAP benefits.

What’s worse is that SNAP is contributing directly to the staggeringly high rates of obesity and illness in poor Americans.

I witnessed this when I served on the board of the local St. Vincent de Paul Society here in Indiana. SVdP operates a food pantry where those in need can come for free food (the Society purchases it from the local food bank or big box stores and receives some donations from local Catholic parishes).

During the COVID-19 lockdowns, however, our pantry was closed to the public, so we set up a drive-through. Volunteers put together boxes of bread, milk and other dairy products, lean meats, fresh produce, canned fruits and vegetables, and dry goods like oatmeal, rice and peanut butter. SVdP clients drove through our parking lot and collected the preassembled boxes.

Our executive director at the time commented to me that these were probably the most healthful bundles of food local families had ever gotten from us. When I expressed surprise, she explained that food pantries were ordinarily forced to operate under the rule of “client choice.” In other words, people must be allowed to come in and select whatever they want. Many would choose sugary cereals, pancakes and syrup, donuts and salty snacks, bypassing more nutritious items available. This rule, I was informed, was to preserve the poor’s “dignity.”

This, as it turns out, is the way SNAP operates as well. According to authors Angela Rachidi and Thomas O'Rourke at the American Enterprise Institute, the food stamp program has “no nutritional standards” whatsoever. Program participants can “purchase any food or beverage product intended for consumption, except alcohol,” and “data show that sizable portions of SNAP dollars purchase nonnutritious foods, such as sugary beverages and ultra-processed foods, which can lead to poor health.” Indeed, the U.S. Department of Agriculture reports that the No. 1 item purchased with food stamps is soda pop. In the top 20 are bag snacks, frozen snacks, candy, ice cream and cookies.

And anyone wonders why the poor in this country are obese?

The CDC estimates that health conditions associated with obesity already cost nearly $200 billion annually. Whether covered by private insurance or so-called universal health care paid for by the government, the costs associated with an increasingly obese and chronically ill population are going to break the bank.

The SNAP program needs to be completely revamped. It is riddled with fraud and abuse, and it hurts the very people it is intended to help. There is no “dignity” in obesity, malnourishment and chronic illness, especially when it is a function of poverty, ignorance and dependence upon government.

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