While I always thought we Americans were really outdoing ourselves and the rest of the world, this week I stumbled across a couple of articles talking about obesity on a global scale.
Let's just say, those articles shocked the pants off me.
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Starting with this article, here are a few quotes for you to chew on:
- Obesity is now blamed for around 5 percent of all deaths worldwide and has a similar negative effect on the global economy to smoking and armed conflict.
- It is predicted that almost half of the world's adult population will be overweight or obese by 2030.
- Obesity now costs the global economy $2 trillion in healthcare and lost productivity -- or 2.8 percent of global GDP -- $100 billion less than both smoking and armed conflict.
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And then there was this article. We'll keep this one simple with just a summary:
| Rank | Country | Overall Obesity % | Women's Obesity | Attributed to… |
| 10 | Venezuela | 31% | N/A | Healthy food shortages & high prices |
| 9 | Syria | 32% | "Soaring among women" | Self home quarantine due to war |
| 8 | United States of America | 32% | N/A | (I think we already know) |
| 7 | Mexico | 33% | N/A | Readily available processed/calorie rich foods & lack of nutritional literacy |
| 6 | South Africa | 33.50% | N/A | A growing fast food market |
| 5 | United Arab Emirates | 33.70% | N/A | A growing junk food market, longer working hours & increasingly sedentary lifestyles (Interestingly, last year the government launched a weight loss challenge that rewarded loss with gold) |
| 4 | Jordan | 34.30% | 2:1 ratio (women vs men) | No details noted |
| 3 | Egypt | 35% | N/A | Prevalence of affordable fast food coupled with an increase in per capita income |
| 2 | Saudi Arabia | 35.20% | Over 37% | Conservative lifestyles that tend to shy away from physical activity |
| 1 | Kuwait | 42.80% | Over 50% | A rapid rise in national prosperity |
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So ... what should we do about this? Well, I have a thought...
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