I wrote an
Essay on the Problems of Obesity and How to Overcome it
The below table shows quite a divergence of obesity rates throughout the world. Interesting that France, Spain and Italy all have a low rate of obesity, maybe they are used to eating more healthy foods.
Percentage of people classified as obese
| % obese | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| female | male | ||
 USA |
1999-2000 | 34 | 27.7 |
 Argentina |
1997 | 25.4 | 28.4 |
 Mexico |
- | 25.1 | 14.9 |
 Russia |
- | 25 | 10 |
 England |
2001 | 23.5 | 21.0 |
 Germany |
1991 | 19.3 | 17.2 |
 Finland |
- | 19 | 20 |
 Spain |
1997 | 15.2 | 11.5 |
 Italy |
1999 | 9.9 | 9.5 |
 France |
1995-1996 | 7.0 | 8.0 |
- Food Standards Agency
- Data collated from various published sources and quoted in ‘Food Manufacturing: Obesity – the big issue’ (J P Morgan European Equity Research)
People don’t truly understand the risks of being overweight. Why do most want to lose weight? Most would say to look better. Looking better certainly is a benefit of losing weight, but this shouldn’t be the sole reason to lose weight. There is a 1000 pound gorilla in the room and it’s often ignored. Being overweight for a long period of time kills thousands of people each year