Great Recession led to rise in obesity, diabetes: study
4 March 2018 4:59 PM GMT
London: The Great Recession of 2008 that severely affected the world economy also resulted in changes to people's health behaviour, with a significant increase in the risk of obesity, diabetes and mental health problems, a new study has found.
In particular, researchers from City, University of London and King's College London in the UK discovered that the probability of being obese and severely obese increased by 4.1 and 2.4 percentage points respectively.
Similarly, the probability of having diabetes was 1.5 percentage points higher after 2008, with the prevalence of mental health problems increasing by 4 percentage points.
These changes were also seen to impact particularly on women and those less educated, with the authors suggesting that uncertainty and negative expectations generated by the recession rather than unemployment might explain the changes seen.
Researchers looked at data from the Health Survey for England (HSE), a survey taken yearly from about 9,000 English households.
The results of the study suggest that the start of the recession was associated with worse dietary habits and increased BMI and obesity.
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