The Truth Behind Poor People’s Diets

“The basis of their diet, therefore, is white bread and Margarine, corned beef, sugared tea, and potato—an appalling diet. Would it not be better if they spent more money on wholesome things like oranges and wholemeal bread?”

George Orwell, in his description of the life of poor British workers in The Road to Wigan Pier

The section I read today titled “Are poor people actually eating enough?” starts off with a pretty simple  but debatable question: Are taller people smarter?

Usually, the measure of how well a child has been fed through the childhood years is height In poor countries and rich countries alike, taller people earn more. There has been a long debate on whether height really matters for productivity.

A study nailed down what explains this relationship, where there is no relationship between height and earning when we compare people with the same IQ. Good nutrition is what actually matters. We may all know many not-so-tall people around us who are very bright.

A lot of evidence suggests that childhood malnutrition directly affects the ability of adults to function successfully. Studies reveal that undernourished children are more likely to become short adults, to have lower educational achievement, and to give birth to smaller infants, and to have a lower economic status in adulthood.

The Barker Hypothesis claims conditions in utero have long-term impact on a child’s life chances.

Children born to mothers receiving sufficient amounts of iodine during pregnancy completed around ⅓ to ½  more schooling, affecting the child’s productivity in life.

Another example is iron to treat anemia (a condition of weakness and lethargy), where studies found that iron supplements made the men able to work harder and result in an increase of their income.

“The puzzle is that people do not seem to want more food, and yet more food and especially more judiciously purchased food would probably make them, and almost certainly their children, significantly more successful in life.” This is a strange case. The weird reality is that the people don’t seem to want these investments, which aren’t expensive at all. In Kenya, for example, when parents were asked to pay just a few cents for deworming their children, almost all of them refused. This deprived their children of hundreds of dollars of extra earning over their lifetime! 

I was wondering, why do poor people eat so little then, if they could actually afford it and understand it could help both themselves and their children in the long run? Why don’t they make this minimal investment that could potentially change their lives?

One reason claims that employers may not know that a well-nourished worker is more productive. If everyone gets paid at the same wage, there would be absolutely no purpose to eat more and get stronger.

Here’s the difference between working for a piece rate (self-employed work) and for a flat wage: workers eat 25% more food when they work for piece rate, when the work actually matters. The more they eat, the stronger they get, the more they can work, and ultimately, the more they can get paid, so why not eat more? On the other hand, if they could earn the same amount of money regardless of putting in more effort or not, then why bother spending extra money to eat more in the first place?

A possibility for one to embody this mindset is that people may not realize the actual value of feeding themselves and their children better. It is not very easy to learn about the value of many nutrients like iodine based on personal experience. Undoubtedly, small differences may add up to something big. However, we must accept that these nutrients can’t turn one into a superhero. 

Another simple reason is that poor people just want tasty food. They choose their foods not just based on their cheap prices and nutritional values. The peculiar evil is that the less money one has, the less they are inclined to spend it on dull wholesome food. Instead, they want to spend it on a tasty, cheap, pleasant thing.

Let's end here today. I loved sharing my reading takeaways and thoughts so far. It has become a great addition to my night routine!

In case you're wondering why I read only a small section per day and have to make a separate blog post for each, there's A LOT OF interesting information squeezed into each chapter that I'd like to share with you all in detail :)

Good night everyone!