Obesity in the World - Current Facts and Tendencies

Obesity is quickly becoming a global phenomenon. While many world regions are still plagued with starvation, others indulge in overeating and suffer from a host of obesity-related diseases. According to the 2007 Report of the World Health Organization, there are more than 1.6 billion obese and overweight individuals worldwide, which in fact doubles the amount of people who are suffering from famine, malnutrition, and starvation!

Ballooning waistline is not just a Western phenomenon anymore. Many Third World countries got succumb to the advertising efforts of multinational corporations producing and pushing an endless array of devitalized, fattening processed junk, loaded with hydrogenated oils, sugars, and artificial chemicals. Traditional diets of whole, seasonal foods have been abandoned in many regions of the world. The American-style junk diet has become a growing nutritional reality for most nations, both rich and poor.

The South Pacific region is currently the “fattest” zone of the globe. The share of obese and overweight adults (those with BMI greater than 25) in Nauru, Micronesia, Cook Islands, and Tonga exceeds 90 percent of the total population! Kuwait is on the eighth place on the list of the fattest nations of the world, with more than 74 percent of local people carrying excess poundage. The rich and powerful United States is on the ninth place, having almost as many overweight individuals as does Kuwait.

These tendencies reflect the changing pattern of obesity, now sweeping formerly lean developing countries. A wide availability of Western foods and drastic changes in traditional lifestyles and diets are undoubtedly the key factors influencing the current epidemic of overweight in the countries of the Third World.

Developed nations quickly become fatter, too, with the United States being the most obese of the Western countries. According to the list of the “World’s Fattest Countries” by Lauren Strieb, Forbes, the United Kingdom currently ranks number 28, with 63 percent lounging in the obese or overweight category. Canadians weigh in at number 35, with more than 61 percent suffering from excess weight and related diseases.

Numerous surveys show that towns or districts with the poorest and least educated populations within industrialized countries are among the “fattest zones”. And, although the rates of obesity grow quickly in all parts of the industrialized world, regions with a greater number of fast-food restaurants tend to have higher levels of overweight population.

These interesting observations confirm that fact that, if you live in the developed world, the less money you have and the lower your level of education is, the more you are at risk of being obese. One explanation for this phenomena is that fresh, nourishing whole foods are more expensive than high in sugar and low in nutrients pre-packaged junk. Preparation of whole foods also requires free time and some traditional skills in cooking, which are quickly disappearing in the industrialized world due to long work hours, necessary to earn the living and pay endless bills, and a lack of traditional upbringing that was typical for “stay-at-home-Mon” societies.

A positive tendency is that more and more Americans now start questioning the alleged benefits of the carbohydrate-based Food Guide Pyramid. Refined grains, high-fructose corn syrup, numerous chemical additives, sugar, fast-food restaurants, TV dinners, and processed vegetable oils are slowly losing their former popularity, at least among health-conscious people living in the developed world.

Kim Suffolk