Record number of food stamp recipents

The economy is really hard on everyone right now, and here's another example:

About 39.4 million Americans, the most ever, received food stamps in January, the government said.

The number of recipients was up 22% from a year earlier, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The total of Americans getting the subsidy has hit records for 14 consecutive months.

With that said ... because we know that most food subsidies cover mass produced, factory farmed goods, can you see the health care crisis becoming worse?

Here's a really great article about obesity, healthcare and poverty:

Some highlights include:

According to the US Agriculture Department, between 1985 and 2003, the cost of fruits and vegetables rose by 120%. While the cost of soft drinks, sweets, sugars and sweets rose by less than 50%.

A 2006 study by the Colorado Health Foundation titled the “Income, Education and Obesity” found that 25% of Colorado children living in low-income households with an average income of $25,000 or less were obese compared to 8% of the children in households with an income of $75,000 or more who were obese.

While I'm not purely suggesting that lower income families are breeding obese children or that lower income families are "fat and lazy," what I am suggesting is that the issues with food, scarity and proper nutrition are an ever looming issue now exacerbated by a declining economy and a shrinking middle class.