Charlotte Howard for Economist magazine:
… Two-thirds of American adults are overweight. …
Alarmingly, 36% of adults and 17% of children are not just overweight but obese, with a BMI of at least 30, meaning they weigh 92kg or more at the same height. If current trends continue, by 2030 nearly half of American adults could be obese.
The rest of the world should not scoff at Americans, because belts in many other places are stretched too, as shown by new data from Majid Ezzati of Imperial College, London, and Gretchen Stevens of the World Health Organisation (WHO). Some continental Europeans remain relatively slender. Swiss women are the slimmest, and most French women don’t get fat, as they like to brag (though nearly 15% do). But in Britain 25% of all women are obese, with men following close behind at 24%. Czech men take the European biscuit: 30% are obese.
… In all, according to Dr Ezzati, in 2008 about 1.5 billion adults, or roughly one-third of the world’s adult population, were overweight or obese. Obesity rates were nearly double those in 1980. …
… In America junk-food calories are often cheaper than healthy ones. Suburban sprawl and the universal availability of food have made the car the new dining room. In the Middle East, Bedouin traditions of hosting and feasting have combined with wealth to make overeating a nightly habit. Any inclination to exercise is discouraged by heat and cultural restrictions. …
One of the very best reasons to put kids in acrobatic sport is to keep them lean.
related – 5 Ways You Are Making Your Kids FAT
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