Posted on 09/03/2006 5:56:04 AM PDT by Mrs. Don-o
Obesity has reached pandemic proportions throughout the world and is now the greatest single contributor to chronic disease, an international conference was told here.
"This insidious, creeping pandemic of obesity is now engulfing the entire world," Australia's Monash University professor Paul Zimmet, chair of the 10th International Congress on Obesity, said on the opening day of the conference.
The spread of the problem was "led by affluent western nations, whose physical activity and dietary habits are regrettably being adopted by developing nations," Zimmet told more than 2,000 delegates.
The world now has more fat people than hungry ones, according to World Health Organisation figures, with more than a billion overweight people compared to 800 million who are undernourished.
The congress on obesity is held every four years, with the last three staged in Toronto (1994), Paris (1998) and Sao Paulo (2002).
"The conference will treat obesity as the keystone of all health priorities because it is the single greatest contributor to chronic disease throughout the world," said University of Sydney professor Ian Caterson, the event co-chair.
"There are now more overweight people in the world than undernourished and we are seeing the double burden of the extremes of malnutrition -- undernutrition and overnutrition -- in many developing countries.
"We know this is not about gluttony -- it is the interaction of heredity and environment. We know that small changes can make a big difference in peoples weight and health."
Zimmet said the problem needed urgent solutions -- not just widespread changes to diet and exercise but the rethinking of national policies on urban and social planning, agriculture policy, education, transport and other areas.
He also warned in an opening address that the growth of obesity-related diabetes, or so-called "diabesity", was set to bankrupt health budgets all over the world.
Around 370 speakers and presenters at the six-day congress will discuss a range of issues, including scientific research on how the brain regulates energy and advances in the prevention and clinical management of obesity.
The conference is being attended by academics and health professionals from Australia, Japan, the United States, Britain, Canada, Sweden, Indonesia and New Zealand.
Baloney. Are the AMA health nazis? Is the American Dieabetes Association a health nazi group? Do you ever get out and just look at people? People are getting fat all around. It's a serious issue. Not just for those getting fat. Imagine the nurses in hospitals all around the country trying to turn fat people in their beds so they don't get bed sores. Imagine all the EMT's that have to carry these people.
--I like that idea but the lawyers will render ineffective the waiver--
Bear in mind that it is far cheaper to buy starches, fats, and sweets than protein, which takes far longer to digest, too. The junkiest foods leave one hungry soon after eating, and that increases intake leading to overeating and obesity. I will grant that vegetables are not that expensive, though.
I've been fighting weight for my entire life (I was given a gift certificate to Weight Watchers when I was born), so they have my sympathy.
I wonder if a wordlwide famine is on the way?
Have a nice day!
The real problem is all of the "greater public awareness."
Much of the problem lies in the attitude that government can and SHOULD be responsible for our lives and what should in actuality be personal responsibility.
We have become a "victim" society wherein someone can find someone else to blame for their our personal choices.
.....Where are all the DARWIN people. ......
Well, hows this.....
Obestiy and resulting disease are a natural population dampening phenomenon to control the overpopulation that occurs in tandem with the super good times. The good times of excess food supply result in obesity.
Genes evolved over time regulate the population.
We have to stop this before they start doing Fat Women beauty pagents!
seriously, I suspect it is the sweetners being used.
I can't believe I read this post on FR. (But, then again... Little surprises me here anymore.)
This is simply not true. A more accurate interpretation of your observations would be that the people who make poor dietary decisions also make poor financial decisions. People who make wise dietary decisions also make wise financial decisions.
A greater public awareness and education is the answer. Instead, the inner city people are pandered to by McDonald's, etc.
Is that how you defend fat people?
You're right. I was not succinct in my post. I was trying to do several things at once and did not devote my full concentration on that post. In a subsequent post you'll find I said practically the same thing.
"It is an education problem as well. "
I graduated from a public high school in 1965. Mandatory physical education all 4 years and it was difficult to get out of. You could also not graduate if you didn't pass PhysEd -- it was serious. Also kids had to ride bikes everywhere if they wanted to go anywhere.
OK, today we have cut PhysEd from school budgets and watered PhysEd down. Kids in my neighborhood ride electric and gas powered scooters to go places. If they can't get mom in the mini-van to drive somewhere they won't go. All athletics (soccer mom teams) must have uniforms and assigned practice sessions.
Poor or rich it seems all of the teenagers look pretty heavy to me. Mrs. BeAllYouCanBe was a cheerleading coach and had problems with try-outs because 190 lb girls wanted on the team. Parents tried to force the issue and get their darling daughters on the team -- this is a safety issue. The girls must get thrown in the air and boys much catch them it is best to have all the girls under 125 lbs.
Power hungry control freaks hiding behind the mask of concerned do-gooder and setting the stage for an ever expanding government to take more control over other peoples lives with them in charge of course.
But obesity is great for lower the cost of Social Security and private pensions, which enjoy tax benefits. I would think that given the cost savings for Social Security and private pensions, we should encourage obesity (and smoking). It would solve the looming pension crisis.
All right, obesity may be pandemic, but is it sustainable, or at the very least affordably pandemic or perhaps is obesity just the new gravitas?
Do you get the feeling there are only about twenty five or thirty words left in the world and three quarters of them are stupid?
Do you remember when inappropriate behavior was never anything worse than eating your salad with your fish fork?
Oh well, language happens!
It's analogous to when the Surgeon General discovered evidence that cigarette smoking could cause cancer, it would be wrong for him to have remained silent about it.
Hmmmmm.... Where my sister lives in Illinois is a fairly affluent neighboorhood. When I go to visit I really don't see many fat kids. When I drive through the streets of New Haven, CT. I see fat kids everywhere. In my neck of the woods (semi-rural, wealthy) there aren't many fat kids either.
This really is a socio-economic issue more than people realize or, are willing to admit.
Better duck!!!!
I drink like a fish, smoke two packs a day and mind my own beeswax.
I also walk a minimum of two miles a day, eat whatever falls down in front of me and except for broken bones, have been sick exactly three days in the last fifty years.
Fight the power, screw socialized medicine, take care of your family and friends.
Maybe I'm too much of an old Yankee, because I think minding one's own business is a virtue.
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