Low-income people are more likely to engage in emotional eating and become obese due to psychological distress, a study published by a group of researchers from the University of Liverpool suggested.
The study analyzed the diets and psychological issues of 150 people in northwest England and its results were published in the journal Obesity, John Tung Foundation Mental Health Center director Yeh Ya-hsing (葉雅馨) said on Monday.
The study found a correlation between lower socioeconomic status and higher psychological distress, as well as between heightened psychological distress and emotional eating, and high risks of obesity, she said.
Compared with people living in more affluent communities, those living in poorer neighborhoods have easier access to low-cost and high-calorie foods, Yeh said, citing the study.
The study also found a correlation between psychological distress and eating behavior and body weight adjustment, she said.
Emotional eating refers to eating “mindlessly” and without any moderation, Yeh said.
People are likely to exceed the recommended daily maximum calorie intake and become obese if they continuously engage in emotional eating as a way to relieve stress, she said.
Emotional eating might bring a sense of pleasure and satisfaction, but those feelings would be quickly replaced by negative emotions, Yeh said.
Rather than restricting their diet, people can calculate the calories of the food they are about to eat and associate the calories with the exercise they have to do to burn them, she said.
This way, people can think about the hours they would need to spend exercising to burn the excess calories even when they are out of control emotionally, Yeh said, adding that people should make a habit of this.
Rich people who are bored or idle are also a high-risk group for obesity, she said.
Differences in socioeconomic status cause health inequality, as people from a lower socioeconomic background are at a disadvantage when seeking healthcare, Taipei Medical University professor Chiou Hung-yi (邱弘毅) said.
Obesity is a key factor affecting people’s health, he said.
“The government should strive to create a dietary environment in which people from different socioeconomic status have access to healthier diets and avoid obesity risks,” Chiou said.
AGING: While Japan has 22 submarines, Taiwan only operates four, two of which were commissioned by the US in 1945 and 1946, and transferred to Taiwan in 1973 Taiwan would need at least 12 submarines to reach modern fleet capabilities, CSBC Corp, Taiwan chairman Chen Cheng-hung (陳政宏) said in an interview broadcast on Friday, citing a US assessment. CSBC is testing the nation’s first indigenous defense submarine, the Hai Kun (海鯤, Narwhal), which is scheduled to be delivered to the navy next month or in July. The Hai Kun has completed torpedo-firing tests and is scheduled to undergo overnight sea trials, Chen said on an SET TV military affairs program. Taiwan would require at least 12 submarines to establish a modern submarine force after assessing the nation’s operational environment and defense
A white king snake that frightened passengers and caused a stir on a Taipei MRT train on Friday evening has been claimed by its owner, who would be fined, Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC) said yesterday. A person on Threads posted that he thought he was lucky to find an empty row of seats on Friday after boarding a train on the Bannan (Blue) Line, only to spot a white snake with black stripes after sitting down. Startled, he jumped up, he wrote, describing the encounter as “terrifying.” “Taipei’s rat control plan: Release snakes on the metro,” one person wrote in reply, referring
The coast guard today said that it had disrupted "illegal" operations by a Chinese research ship in waters close to the nation and driven it away, part of what Taipei sees a provocative pattern of China's stepped up maritime activities. The coast guard said that it on Thursday last week detected the Chinese ship Tongji (同濟號), which was commissioned only last year, 29 nautical miles (54km) southeast of the southern tip of Taiwan, although just outside restricted waters. The ship was observed lowering ropes into the water, suspected to be the deployment of scientific instruments for "illegal" survey operations, and the coast
Taiwan’s two cases of hantavirus so far this year are on par with previous years’ case numbers, and the government is coordinating rat extermination work, so there should not be any outbreaks, Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Director-General Philip Lo (羅一鈞) said today in an interview with the Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper). An increase in rat sightings in Taipei and New Taipei City has raised concerns about the spread of hantavirus, as rats can carry the disease. In January, a man in his 70s who lived in Taipei’s Daan District (大安) tested positive posthumously for hantavirus, Taiwan’s
RSS