Globesity: This is a blend of global with obesity and refers to the looming public health crisis worldwide caused by excessive weight gain. A writer at the World Health Organization coined it in a report in February 2001 on the increasing risk caused by obesity worldwide.
From Mexico to Qatar, obesity rates are soaring to unprecedented levels. The alarming trend is damaging economic performance, as well as the health of millions of consumers worldwide.
Take our increasingly sedentary lifestyles, mix in a generous portion of American fast-food and dubious agricultural practices, add a dash of corporate duplicity and you have a recipe for high obesity rates across the planet.
The newly released United Nations report on global nutrition does not make for very appetizing reading: Amid an already floundering global economy, the reality of a fattening planet is dragging down world productivity rates while increasing health insurance costs to the tune of $3.5 trillion dollars per year - or 5 percent of global gross domestic product (GDP).
31.8 percent of US adults are now considered clinically obese. This is a remarkable figure, especially considering that it is approximately double the US obesity rate registered in 1995, according to data from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention .
An individual is considered obese when their body mass index (BMI), a measurement obtained by dividing a person's weight in kilograms by the square of the person's height in meters, exceeds 30 kg/m2, according to the World Health Organization.
Meanwhile, much of the international community is quickly catching up with the global consumption superpower. Mexico, for example, just surpassed US obesity rates with a whopping 32.8 percent of Mexican adults now considered to be clinically obese.
The unprecedented weight gains in Mexico, however, as well as many other countries, appear to be no accident.
Following the passage of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), Mexico became the dumping ground for a slew of cheap fast food and carbonated drinks, according to a Foreign Policy report.
Thanks to NAFTA, there was a more than 1,200 percent increase in high-fructose corn syrup exports from the US to Mexico between 1996 and 2012, according to the US Agriculture Department. In an effort to place a cap on the high-calorie drinks, Mexican officials introduced a tax on beverages containing high-fructose corn syrup. American corn refiners, however, cried foul and the tax was voted down by the World Trade Organization. . . . continue reading>>http://rt.com/usa/us-obesity-food-global-regulation
Take our increasingly sedentary lifestyles, mix in a generous portion of American fast-food and dubious agricultural practices, add a dash of corporate duplicity and you have a recipe for high obesity rates across the planet.
The newly released United Nations report on global nutrition does not make for very appetizing reading: Amid an already floundering global economy, the reality of a fattening planet is dragging down world productivity rates while increasing health insurance costs to the tune of $3.5 trillion dollars per year - or 5 percent of global gross domestic product (GDP).
31.8 percent of US adults are now considered clinically obese. This is a remarkable figure, especially considering that it is approximately double the US obesity rate registered in 1995, according to data from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention .
An individual is considered obese when their body mass index (BMI), a measurement obtained by dividing a person's weight in kilograms by the square of the person's height in meters, exceeds 30 kg/m2, according to the World Health Organization.
Meanwhile, much of the international community is quickly catching up with the global consumption superpower. Mexico, for example, just surpassed US obesity rates with a whopping 32.8 percent of Mexican adults now considered to be clinically obese.
The unprecedented weight gains in Mexico, however, as well as many other countries, appear to be no accident.
Following the passage of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), Mexico became the dumping ground for a slew of cheap fast food and carbonated drinks, according to a Foreign Policy report.
Thanks to NAFTA, there was a more than 1,200 percent increase in high-fructose corn syrup exports from the US to Mexico between 1996 and 2012, according to the US Agriculture Department. In an effort to place a cap on the high-calorie drinks, Mexican officials introduced a tax on beverages containing high-fructose corn syrup. American corn refiners, however, cried foul and the tax was voted down by the World Trade Organization. . . . continue reading>>http://rt.com/usa/us-obesity-food-global-regulation
A film about how obesity during the last few decades has suddenly become a worldwide epidemic.
Obesity is no longer just a rich country's problem. It's now taken hold in poor and emerging countries and is rapidly developing into an insurmountable health crisis. Type 2 diabetes, heart disease and some cancers are on the march in nation's ill equipped to treat sufferers or educate others about the dangers of getting too fat. It's predicted that by 2030 one billion people will be obese, so how will the world cope with its ever expanding waistline?
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation produced a program in July 2012 that examined the world's number one health issue. Globesity - Fat's New Frontier - explores four obesity hotspots outside of the United States - Mexico, Brazil, China and India - where hundreds of millions are dying from diabetes.
In 2010, 500 million people were obese worldwide. Shockingly, that figure is predicted to rise to one billion by 2030.
On the one hand, Americans can take comfort in the fact that obesity is NOT just an American problem. Mexico has a bigger weight problem than America does. On the other hand, however, Americans have been busy exporting their process food industry, making the world fat, under the guise of preventing under-nutrition; all in the name of ever greater corporate profits.
Obesity is no longer just a rich country's problem. It's now taken hold in poor and emerging countries and is rapidly developing into an insurmountable health crisis. Type 2 diabetes, heart disease and some cancers are on the march in nation's ill equipped to treat sufferers or educate others about the dangers of getting too fat. It's predicted that by 2030 one billion people will be obese, so how will the world cope with its ever expanding waistline?
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation produced a program in July 2012 that examined the world's number one health issue. Globesity - Fat's New Frontier - explores four obesity hotspots outside of the United States - Mexico, Brazil, China and India - where hundreds of millions are dying from diabetes.
In 2010, 500 million people were obese worldwide. Shockingly, that figure is predicted to rise to one billion by 2030.
On the one hand, Americans can take comfort in the fact that obesity is NOT just an American problem. Mexico has a bigger weight problem than America does. On the other hand, however, Americans have been busy exporting their process food industry, making the world fat, under the guise of preventing under-nutrition; all in the name of ever greater corporate profits.