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EUROPE - EPIDEMIC - OBESITY - FRANCE - OVERWEIGHT - DIABETES

As a byproduct of fast food convenience, genetic inheritance and often just pure laziness, obesity kills more than 300,000 Americans each year. But hold on to your seats - and make sure they don't break - because "wafer-thin" France is gaining on the United States in the fat race.

Forty-two percent of the French population is overweight or obese, according to a Jan. 25th New York Times article by Elaine Sciolino. Because child cases of obesity are increasing by 17 percent annually, by 2020 France might reach the U.S. obesity and overweight rate of more than 65 percent.

In Roubaix, a poor town in northern France, the average rate climbed to a high of 51 percent and France's socialist government has taken steps to address the nationwide "epidemic of obesity," Sciolino wrote.

These measures, according to the article, include banning vending machines from schools, mandating a tax for food retailers who do not preach healthy eating habits, and banning misleading food advertisements. Who knows - perhaps images of French police raiding fast-food speakeasies and stomping deep fryers in the streets are in the future.

Obesity, a term the national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention defines as "having a very high amount of body fat in relation to lean body mass," is determined by body mass index, a measure of the relationship between a person's weight and height. According to a CDC Web site, a BMI of 18.5 to 24.9 is normal, 25 to 29.9 is overweight and a BMI of 30 or more is considered obese. A 5-foot-4-inch person weighing 179 pounds, for example, is obese because he or she would have a BMI of 30.

While the French battle their growing national weight-gain problems with strict authority, officials and companies here in America are considering less severe measures.

The Trust for America's Health has ranked West Virginia as the third most obese state in the country, just behind Mississippi and Alabama (ranked one and two, respectively). To combat obesity, West Virginian public officials are reaching out to the youth and providing all 157 middle schools with video game setups of "Dance Dance Revolution," according to an Associated Press article by Allison Barker. Expected to cost $500,000, Barker wrote that the setups will offer physical activity other than sports to middle school students. In the coming years, according to the article, public officials hope to have the game setups available to all public school students in West Virginia.

Although public scrutiny can result from packing on pounds, countless health problems plaguing the obese generate the most concern across the globe.

Diabetes is one of the growing epidemics in America and, pursuant to increasing obesity and overweight rates in France, it is also an imminent threat to Europe. According to an American Obesity Association Web site, obesity is associated with at least 30 different medical conditions including heart disease, osteoarthritis, infertility and even cancer.

Instead of eating right and exercising a few times a week - the most effective method of fighting obesity - Americans sometimes try short cuts by using "designer medications" and diet pills when faced with the harsh reality of medical problems.

The Food and Drug Administration is considering approving over-the-counter sales of a prescription-drug known as orlistat, according to Andrew Bridges of the Associated Press. If the FDA approves orlistat, it will become the first over-the-counter, fat-blocking drug available to consumers, Bridges wrote. GlaxoSmithKline, the maker of the drug, claims the drug prevents hundreds of calories of fat from being absorbed by the body by passing it out in stool.

But each drug is not without side effects. Not only did patients in the clinical study regain the 5.3 to 6.2 pounds they lost in six months, but they also experienced diarrhea, gas and "oily discharge" that stained their undergarments, according to the article.

Beyond any shadow of a doubt, weight gain is a massive problem faced by industrialized nations. Employees sit most of the day at desk jobs, eat fast food that can be scarfed down in a few minutes on a lunch break and make a date with their TVs before even thinking of exercise. But with obesity rates skyrocketing and a health care crisis in the works, we need to find time to hit the treadmill, and, in a significant way, try to run away from weight-gain problems.

Source: The Lantern

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Posted in La Obesidad en Europa y Estados Unidos | Obesity and Overweight in Europe 1182 lecturas