Research
Adherence
Higher levels of education and higher socio-economic status are causally associated with lower obesity rates in women, creating a steep socio-economic gradient.
For women, higher education and socio-economic status are linked to lower obesity rates. This suggests that investing in education and addressing socio-economic disparities can be effective public health strategies for obesity prevention.
GoodSupportsHIGH confidence
Levels of obesity decrease roughly in a linear fashion with increasing education. There is some evidence that this association is, at least in part, causal.
Why this rating
Based on cross-sectional data and natural experiments (e.g., changes in compulsory education laws).
Source
The Obesity Epidemic: Analysis of Past and Projected Future Trends in Selected OECD Countries
Franco Sassi et al. · OECD health working papers · 2009
DOI 10.1787/225215402672
cross_sectional · n=3940490Cited 346×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
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