Robert Preidt - One-Third of U.S. Homeless Population Is Obese: Study

One-third of homeless people in the United States are obese, about the same rate as the general population, a new study finds.

It might seem that hunger and lack of food would put homeless people at risk for weighing too little, according to the researchers at Harvard Medical School in Boston and the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom.

But, the high rate of obesity among homeless people may be due to their reliance on cheap foods that contain high levels of fat and sugar. Another possible explanation could be physiological -- chronic food shortages cause the body to adapt by storing fat reserves.

Other factors may include little physical activity, sleep deprivation and stress.

The researchers examined the body-mass index (a measure of body fat based on height and weight) in more than 5,600 homeless men and women in Boston and found that 32 percent were obese, just less than 6 percent were morbidly obese and just less than 2 percent were underweight.

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http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/news/fullstory_125352.html