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.
"When I was a kid I'd have had to pay a dime and walk inside a tent to see what comes in here every day."
My wife and I were at a town fair last night and the number of grossly overweight folks, we noticed, was amazing.
"We know this is not about gluttony -- it is the interaction of heredity and environment."
"It was the result of a grand redefinition..."
Guess again. We haven't had a sudden change in our genetic makeup.
When I was a kid, I had never seen a man so fat that he had to spread his legs apart when sitting so his belly could hang between them. Now I see it darn near every time I eat out. Folks waddle thru the malls that used to qualify for freak shows.
Here's a hint - I don't see these folks eating a light salad and 6 oz of grilled meat. They are the ones who bring 4 slices of pie with them from the buffet so they won't have to walk to the table to get more pie.
The BMI thing is stupid - on that, we can agree. But I'm not seeing a lot of muscle hulks in the malls or at work.
To lose weight: eat less, move more. Repeat as required.
To gain weight: Reverse.
By the way, call me old fashioned, but I still like to think of people as individuals, not grouped into some dehumanized, amorphous group called "fat people."
I know dehumanizing is the first step in the "education" process, so it's a useful tool for the usual suspects.
A whole lot of Americans need to mind their own business
That's not old-fashioned it's denial. It's PC. It's new age. It's "compassionate".
So. You are a conservative who doesn't like to use "fat people" to describe a group but won't hesitate to use "nazis" to describe a group? How do you reconcile that?
They are using the same tactics now that they used against smokers and you're going right along with it.
Where? Show me one post that advocates government intervention?
Thanks so much for the condescending little lecture.
I have never had a weight problem, but I've always had a problem with people who judge others solely on their appearance. It bespeaks a shallowness displayed usually by those always on the lookout for someone they can safely crap on.
Socialized medicine brings out the worst kind of busybodies, and this reason alone makes it dangerous to a free society.
That is just plain common sense.....and it can't be legislated or regulated, you either have it or you don't.
It is not the government's responsibility to watch over us, but they should indeed make people aware that there is a dangerous trend emerging.
Making people aware is one thing......but that is not what is going on here, what is going on here is that people are being conditioned to expect the government to do something about it and thus failing to take personal responsibility. I don't need the government telling me how to conduct my life because they are pandering to the lowest common denominator which is incapable of taking care of itself.
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.
And look where it has led us........people made their own decisions based upon that information, but people didn't like those decisions and so changed it to say smoking WILL cause cancer....when that didn't work they started claiming exposure to other people's smoke will cause cancer.....and that has now led to all types of intrusive laws and regulations...all over the hype of something, that some day, may cause an increased risk of getting something, maybe........
Sorry, but I am an adult and quite capable of making dietary decisions for my family. I don't need some bureaucrat telling me what I should or shouldn't do because a bunch of lazy lardbutts are incapable of cooking a meal.
If the jackboot fits.
"Nazis" wish to be thought of collectively, demonstrated by their philosophy.
Surely you're joking.
Go to Walmart and see what poor folk are buying with their food stamps. Their carts are filled with junk food and the kids are sucking down candy and soda.
Follow them out to the parking lot and you'll see them getting into their cars parked in handicap spaces.
Poor choices and lack of motivation, not lack of money.
Will the international busybodies EVER find a problem that they say is up to the individual and not government to fix?
Yep, it's all there at walmart. And it's worse then we thought.
It may very well be, but not really where I live. I live in a very rural area that is the 5 poorest county in the state. I just looked at my daughter's class picture. Of the 16 kids in the photo there is only one that could be considered overweight.
Tourism and agriculture are the prime industries here, and it is generally easy to pick out the tourists' kids from the locals.
Global warming and fat people. Man is this world gonna' stink.
Change a few words here and there, and we have the template for the war on Big Fat.
As we always knew.
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