Debt and Obesity: Twin American Addictions?

Animated map of obesity incidence by state (1985-2006) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

A friend recently commented to me that obesity and student-loan debt have something in come:  both conditions are entered voluntarily, after which the "victims" expect everyone else to take of them.  In other words, you don't have to eat that junk food, and you don't have to attend that pricey college when a good community college is right down the street.

Was there anything to my friend's comment?  I wondered.  Here's what I found:

As Americans' debt has soared, so has obesity

August 6, 2011|By Marni Jameson, Orlando Sentinel

Feeling fat and poor? You have lots of company. Consumer debt and obesity have both soared in America during the past three decades, and they've done so at strikingly similar rates. The parallel rise is not just a coincidence, say experts, who cite the common causes shared by overspending and overeating.

And American society has become a perfect milieu for both.

"People use food and money in similar ways," said David Krueger, a Houston-based psychiatrist who specializes in issues surrounding money. "The driving motivation is: What is going to make me feel better in the next instant? That trumps the better question: What's in my best interest?"

More:  http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2011-08-06/health/os-debt-obesity-20110806_1_debt-counseling-obesity-incharge-debt-solutions

The Germans are no different:

http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=news/health&id=8302673

More on this topic:

http://blogs.reuters.com/felix-salmon/2011/10/02/the-negative-correlation-between-obesity-and-indebtedness/

http://www.fivecentnickel.com/2010/11/10/debt-and-obesity-whats-the-connection/