• Cardiovascular diseases
• Chronic degenerative diseases
• Econometric analysis
• Health economics
• Obesity
• public health policies.

In the first chapter after defining the chronic degenerative diseases from a medical point of view, we focus our attention on cardiovascular diseases, diabetes and obesity. We try to analyse the risk factors behind this type of pathologies and we put our effort to understand why they persist during human history.
In the second part we highlight the relationship between economic welfare and healthy diet, we describe the emergence of two eating cultures: slow vs. fast food. Childhood obesity is then the result of bad eating habits, diffused in low-income neighbourhoods, this pathology is considered in all his implications.
After this introductory part, in the end of chapter two, we make a short survey of the existing literature in the health economics field, and we present some interesting paper on the relationships between eating behaviour and the occurrence of pathologies (such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease or infarction).
All the material found is based on American data; hence in chapter three, we try to “replicate” the results with Italian micro-data, “Aspetti della vita quotidiana, ISTAT”. After this step, we try to verify the direct relationship existing between disposable income of households and the quality of the food consumed.
We conclude our analysis examining possible policies to reduce junk-food consumption and improve consumer’s health.