Re: [Marxism] Obesity reduction and its possible consequences

[Michael Perelman <michael@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Tapia Granados, Jose' A. 2005. "Response: On Economic Growth, Business 
Fluctuations, and Health Progress." Journal of Epidemiology, 34, pp. 1226-33. 

During the Second World War, deaths from coronary disease declined in Norway 
and 
other German-occupied countries as fats and calories were drastically cut in 
the 
diet.  Then, in 1945, pre-war levels returned both in diet and coronary deaths. 
[Dubos R. 1987. The Mirage of Health -- Utopias, Progress and Biological Change 
(New 
Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, orig. 1959): p. 200.]  It also appears 
that the 
blockage of Confederate cotton exports at the start of the US civil war and the 
subsequent work stoppage improved both adult and infant health in the textile 
districts of England.  Adults were no longer exposed to exhausting work and 
fumes in 
the factories, and infants could be breastfed by their mothers, who no longer 
gave 
them the Godfried's cordial, a `baby syrup' made with opiates. [Marx K. H. 
1977. 
Inaugural address to the International Working Men Association. In: Marx & 
Engels 
Collected Works. Vol. 20. New York: International Publishers, pp. 5-14.] Though 
opiate syrups sold as medicines have been considered a major contributor to 
deaths 
of children < 3 years old in 19th century England [Fogel R. W. The Fourth Great 
Awakening and the Future of Egalitarianism (Chicago: University of Chicago 
Press, 
2000): p. 15.], the health hazards of the early industrialization period have 
been 
generally attributed to overcrowding and lack of sanitary conditions in cities, 
as 
well as working conditions that packed workers (including children), animals, 
fumes, 
and water in mines and factories for working days of 12 and even more hours. 
[Szreter; Eyer J. Capitalism, Health, and Illness. In: McKinlay, J. B. (ed.) 
Issues 
in the Political Economy of Health Care. New York: Tavistock, 1984, pp. 23-59; 
Easterlin, R. A. "How beneficent is the market? A look at the modern history of 
mortality." European Review of Economic History, 1999; 3, pp. 257-94.] 



-- 
Michael Perelman
Economics Department
California State University
Chico, CA 95929

Tel. 530-898-5321
E-Mail michael at ecst.csuchico.edu
michaelperelman.wordpress.com

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