How does poverty affect health and development?

I was going to give a similar answer to Kappo.  Right now,
the United States is considered the "most obese" nation in the world.  Like the first
answer implied, not consuming fresh, healthy, and seasonal produce and protein leads to
poor eating habits and eventual health problems associated with these
habits.

But I don't believe it is simply the "inability" to
purchase healthy food that causes people in poverty to develop what has become America's
epidimic.  One of the speculations for the causes of this country's health issues
arising from weight gain is our larger than life fast food network and availability.  It
has been written about in articles and books and even documented in film - interviews
with people living at or below the poverty line, who, when given the choice between
purchasing $3 worth of produce or a super value meal at McDonald's - are going to go for
the super value meal.  Why?  Well, it seems like more food and fills them up
better.

The long term problems of course are much costlier
than purchasing the produce in the first place.  I think largely, our country - for as
advanced as we are in so many things - has failed to connect nutrition to progress.  And
poverty is one of the first factors connected to a lack of good
nutrition.

A couple of resources you might want to look
into (if you are interested in this subject even further)
are:

Food, Inc (movie)
In Defense of
Food: An Eater's Manifesto (book by Michael Pollan)