Posted on 07/08/2013 9:03:44 PM PDT by dennisw
Part of the difficulty is that the crisis has taken hold rapidly - In 1989, fewer than 10 percent of Mexican adults had any weight problems.
Studies show that Mexicans are eating more processed foods than ever before and fewer whole grains and vegetables.
This year was the first time Mexico has inched ahead into first place, with a 32.8 per cent obesity rate to America's 31.8 per cent.
However, this was only among the most populated countries of the world.
Both Mexico and the U.S. have nothing on the small countries such as American Samoa in the Pacific where the rate of overweight inhabitants has now reached 95 per cent.
Around 70 percent of Mexican adults are now classified as overweight Diabetes affects one in every six adults in the South American country Only 10 per cent overweight in 1989 - before fast food was widely available The young and poor are the worst-affected groups
Around 70 per cent of Mexican adults are now overweight and a third of them are obese, causing a range of serious health problems.
Experts say four fifths of overweight children will remain so their entire lives.
Abelardo Avila from Mexico's National Nutrition Institute said: 'The worst thing is the children are becoming programmed for obesity.'
The United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) announced two years ago that the national weight gain had reached emergency levels, but it has proved difficult for the authorities to tackle.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
The problem is big and expanding, for sure that.
Having been there, I was always somewhat surprised it wasn’t #1 already.
I hate the BMI. I went through Marine Corps boot camp in the mid 80’s. We had a lot of obviously strong weight lifters branded as diet privates. I was close on my BMI. If they would have branded me as a diet private I would have told them to stick it up their @$$. Needless to say all the diet privates lost a lot of weight. I think the Corps has changed it’s way it calculates being over weight. I’m not sure how they do it though.
I'm with you. I can't even count the number of times that I've stood behind some able-bodied jag-off in a supermarket line who buys food I can't afford and drives off in a car or truck I can't afford either.
How about a little sympathy for those of us who have to pick up the tab?
I hear that. I went to school with a competitive bodybuilder, and the guy had to be under 10% body fat. He looked like someone chiseled him out of granite. BMI said “obese.” I’ve ignored BMI ever since.
But they need to come here illegally “in order to feed their families”, according to Washington. That’s funny, the stats show their families have no trouble eating in Mexico!
BTW, where is Moo when you need her?
Well, here’s an animated map of obesity rates using a constant definition of “obese” (BMI of 30 or greater) covering the years 1985 to 2010:
http://www.cdc.gov/obesity/data/adult.html
It’s near the bottom so you have to scroll down some.
Unless there’s a hidden trend in the data that’s skewing people’s mass to height ratios upward, it sure looks to me like people are indeed getting fatter.
Bring ‘em all in so we can pay for their medical expenses from not just obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure, lipid abnormalities, heart disease, etc., but also from their genetically high propensity for these diseases.
No argument there. My statement is that the definition of obesity has become so broad and wide that it no longer has the same meaning that it did a generation ago.
That’s what happens when you’re always asking for Samoa & getting it....
What do you call a cannibal who devoured his mother-in-law?
“Gladiator!”
It’s actually in North America, but by journalism standards, I think that’s close enough. They didn’t say it is in Asia.
I see where you’re coming and yes there really are two definitions of obesity. There’s the common one which means people who are extremely fat, and there’s the technical definition that’s used by people who compile health statistics. The latter has started to pop up more and more as people have gotten fatter and the trend towards fatness has attracted more statistical analysis. The problem is that it’s based on a simple formula that tends to capture tall people and especially tall people who are muscular since it doesn’t distinguish between muscle mass and fat mass. That’s how you wind up with a football team whose players are technically obese but who are by no means obese according to the common meaning.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.