Article Analysis Essay on The Obesity Hunger Paradox by Sam Dolnick

The obesity hunger paradox by Sam Dolnick is an article which tries to show the relationship between hunger in America and obesity as well. This is more of a confusing situation to put together, but Sam does his best in this article to try and explain his thoughts on the issue. He addresses different concept relating to hunger and poverty as well as obesity. He looks at the different causes of obesity and how they are related to poverty which is directly related to hunger (Dolnick 1). Going through the entire article, it is possible to find the sense behind the research as well as getting confused by some points in the article. I tend to agree with some of the ideas pointed out by Sam Dolnick as well as disagree with others. The issue of obesity is such a sensitive issue that is greatly affecting the American community and the more attention it receives, the better position we stand to prevent the problem.

From the article, Bronx has the highest obesity rate in the city according to the research conducted by Andrew G. Rundle while on the other hand, it faces hunger problems according to a different survey conducted by food research and action center. This tends to be conflicting hence bringing up the paradox of the obesity hunger paradox. Hunger is considered more of food insecurity. It is as a result of one being unable to purchase the basic foods such as groceries or fresh products to come up with a healthy balanced diet (Dolnick 2). This is the main cause of obesity among many. Lack of consumption of a balanced diet is a major cause of obesity. When addressing hunger, due to lack of the ability to purchase such balanced diets the people tend to rest on the food they can easily access. As seen in the article this leads to the consumption of fast foods which are cheaper to afford. For this case, one does not feed so as to attain the right nutrients or the right calories in the body but to fill the stomach is the key priority. At this point, I tend to agree with Sam Dolnick's article and research as we find this issue clearly addressed.

The other point within the article that I seem to concur with is the issue in relation to low income among the people suffering from hunger. Due to the low-income factor among these people health food becomes a rare option among their available choices hence most of them opt for the unhealthy diets since they are available and at a manageable cost. This is seen in these areas, and as seen from the article, neighborhoods with low-income residents reasonable priced supermarkets are rare to find which are the easiest source of health foods (Dolnick 2). Due to this reason, the most probable food within such neighborhood happens to be more of the unhealthy foods hence causing a rise in the rate of obesity within these neighborhoods. This is seen within the Bronx's 12 community district. There are very few supermarkets in the districts but its occupied largely with the fast food joints which are cheap and affordable for the residents. From this analysis it is clear to identify where the connection between hunger and obesity comes in, low-income people will go for the cheap affordable foods which happen to be unhealthy, and then this leads to the increase in the rates of obesity within their communities (Zukiewicz-Sobczak). The article Obesity hunger paradox by Sum Dolnick tries to create this picture to the reader.

Although to some extent I tend to disagree with the article, low-income people tend to have less money but cannot afford to overfeed on the unhealthy meals since they lack the needed capital. Obesity is caused by the consumption of unhealthy diets, and the excessive consumption of these diets lead to the problem. This is hard to experience among the poverty-stricken communities since they lack this capital to overspend on the food. This tends to contradict the entire analysis hence makes me disagree with Sum's article. It is hard for the low-income communities to spend their little income on food mainly since they have other different basic needs they need to address (Levine). Also, the information in the article is particularly from a single area hence it is worth looking at information from other areas and conduct research. This would provide more facts to prove this study. The study from the particular county does not imply that the information may be general in all cases hence the need for further studies in relation to the research topic. Obesity is as a result of lack of exercise as well it is a pattern that people with low incomes tend to work a lot despite the low income, this creates the mental picture that physically these people exercise a lot hence a factor that contributes highly to obesity is challenged as well (Levine).

Despite all that the essay is way convincing in a number of ways as seen in the analysis paper. Different factors can lead to obesity and hunger is connected to poverty both directly and indirectly. The article gives a whole new perspective on obesity and poverty-stricken areas. And the paradox is completely realizable as well. Sam Dolnick in his article creates awareness of an issue that many had not thought of although a few issues seem to conflict with this study.

Work Cited

Dolnick, Sam. "The obesity-hunger paradox." New York Times 12 (2010).

Levine, James A. "Poverty and obesity in the US." (2011): 2667-2668.

Zukiewicz-Sobczak, Wioletta, et al. "Obesity and poverty paradox in developed countries." Annals of Agricultural and Environmental Medicine 21.3 (2014).