Obesity Rates Around the World

OBESITY Country Worst Obesity Three countries: Why obesity rates are so high According to the World Health Organization (WHO), obesity is no longer a disease of affluence. As noted in its 2015 Fact Sheet on the issue of obesity and overweight worldwide, over-nutrition rather than under-nutrition is linked to a higher percentage of deaths across the globe. Broadly speaking, this phenomenon is associated with an expansion of industrialization and a more Westernized, processed diet, causing a dramatic decrease in caloric expenditure and an increase in easily-consumed calories from processed foods.

Obesity is a multi-factorial disease, linked to changes in "health, agriculture, transport, urban planning, environment, food processing, distribution, marketing and education" ("Obesity and overweight," 2015). The United States has one of the highest obesity rates in the world: 30.6% ("Obesity: Countries compared," 2015). This has caused a great deal of understandable shock and consternation in many quarters. How is it possible that such a wealthy and powerful nation has such a high indicator of ill health? To understand the reasons for this requires a careful analysis of the demographic factors behind this percentage.

First of all, obesity rates have been rising since a very specific point in time: "In 1990, not one U.S. state had an obesity rate greater than 14%, according to the CDC…in 2010, 36 states had an obesity rate of at least 25%, with 12 states reporting an obesity rate beyond 30%" (Berl 2012:1).

This spike coincides with a number of sociological phenomenon, including the promotion of a low-fat diet as a method of weight loss; increasing income disparities between the wealthiest and poorest Americans; and also changes in culture due to technology which have decreased physical activity for many Americans. As early as the 1970s, Americans were advised to eat less saturated fat as a method of weight loss. However, this resulted in a dramatic upsurge of dependence upon carbohydrates as a source of nutrition.

As noted by nutritionist Marion Nestle, an overly simplistic correlation between fat consumption and heart disease, combined with an increasing dependence upon corn-based agriculture resulted in a spike in the consumption of high-sugar, high-carbohydrate foods. But "the food industry would substitute vegetable fats for animal fats in such a profound way, and would also substitute sugars for fats, and keep the calorie content of the products exactly the same" (Nestle 2004). High-carbohydrate food, particularly those high in refined sugars, are far less satiating than those high in protein and fat.

The fact that carbohydrates are cheaper than higher-quality protein foods, however, is also a factor in understanding the phenomenon. Poorer, food insecure households are more likely to be dependent upon such foods. As the disparity between rich and poor has grown, so have obesity rates and specific states (particularly the south) and particular groups (historically discriminated-against minorities) have much higher obesity rates. But in America, obesity, while affected by income, is not purely a poverty problem.

While "non-Hispanic blacks have the highest rates of obesity, followed by Mexican-Americans, all Hispanics, and non-Hispanic whites," and higher-educated, wealthier women are much less likely to be obese, this is not true of men and "higher incomes were associated with increased obesity rates among non-Hispanic black and Mexican-American men, the CDC reports" (Berl 2012: 2). Obesity may be exacerbated by low-income individual's reliance upon highly-processed, cheap, nutrition-poor food but it is not the only cause.

Also, not all industrialized nations are showing such a dramatic increase in obesity: France and Japan, although obesity rates are increasing, have much lower rates of obesity than the United States, despite being technologically advanced and subject to the same sociological phenomenon as the U.S. -- cultural factors also clearly have an impact (LeBillon 2012). Mexico has now narrowly surpassed the U.S. In obesity rates with a 32.8% adult obesity rate.

As with the U.S., industrialization, a spike in cheap processed foods, and wide income disparities between the rich and poor are blamed (although unlike in the U.S., this has long been characteristic of Mexican demographics and is not a relatively recent phenomenon). "Less manual labor and more convenience aren't the only things that keep Mexico plodding along the path toward obesity -- it's also terrible eating habits, paradoxically fostered in part by low incomes.

The same people who are malnourished are the ones who are becoming obese," ("Mexico obesity rate," 2013). High-sugar foods are replacing traditional, indigenous diets amongst the poor. Cultural practices which affect food consumption are likewise evident in the United Kingdom's ranking as third in the world's obesity rate and the highest in Europe. Despite its national healthcare system which provides free healthcare to all citizens (similar to that of France, which also offer universal coverage), it still has an extremely high obesity rate.

The United Kingdom has much higher rates of consumption of sugary, processed foods compared with its neighbors with lower obesity rates. The "cost of living, manipulative marketing, nutritional misinformation and -- often overlooked -- simple palatability" have been blamed for this statistic ("Obesity epidemic worse than feared," 2014). Although even neighboring France is seeing a higher rate of obesity, it still pales compares in comparison to its neighbor Great Britain. In France, consumption of food is very much a social phenomenon.

Food may be high in fat but portions are strictly controlled and this education begins in childhood, including strict regulations for all children in terms of how.