Recession makes People Slimmer

While the financial recession of 2007 had brought great economic disaster to every household, a new study has suggested one of its positive aspects. The study has found that the people, who had become overweight before, halved in 3 years' time following this economic crisis.

The Arizona State University researchers compiled data of around 350,000 adults across the United States. Their weight and height was measured to determine the Body Mass Index (BMI). BMI is a heuristic proxy for human body fat based on an individual's weight and height.

The person having a BMI score of 30 or above is termed obese and if the same is within 25 to 30, he is considered as overweight as per the norms provided by the World Health Organization (WHO).

In an earlier research it was found that people from the lower income group gain more weight because they take cheaper foods but with higher calories, like takeaways and pre-packaged meals. Hence it was normally expected that when every family faced an economic scarcity, they should gain weight.

But this new research found that people became slimmer as an effect of the recession irrespective of their income.