If you think it’s only the West’s waistlines that are expanding, think again. The world is getting fatter and the countries most affected will surprise you.
Which country is getting fatter the fastest?
It’s not the US, UK or Australia. According to Foreign Correspondent, the answer is Mexico. The country went from an insignificant percentage of the population being overweight to two out of three adults being overweight or obese by 2006. Mexico is the biggest consumer of soft drink in the world, where diabetes is already the number one killer and where the weight problem is so big, special programs have been developed offering free exercise classes and stomach reduction surgery.
China went from virtually zero in 1990 to one in three adults are overweight. In the next twenty years, it’s predicted there will be 100m patients with diabetes in India.
According to some experts, death and diseases caused by obesity are now more significant that those caused by tobacco.
Globesity – Fat’s New Frontier is a special Foreign Correspondent one-hour special which airs this coming Tuesday. The producers of the program told noodlies, Sydney food blog even they were surprised by what they found – “It’s one thing to read about people getting fatter but it’s another thing to see young obese children”.
They said the most shocking part was seeing “… kindergarten kids in a remote part of Mexico dancing around a soft drink logo painted on the floor of the gym while their parents swigged free bottles in the stands”.
When noodlies asked them if they could see things improving, their response was mixed: “World health experts say the epidemic is getting worse and is now responsible for greater loss of life than through cigarette smoking. However one good thing is that obesity is being spoken about and now people are becoming more aware and hopefully more is being done to prevent the illnesses caused by this epidemic”.
It promises to be a confronting ABC program.
Globesity – Fat’s New Frontier
Producers: Marianne Leitch and Vivien Altman.
Foreign Correspondent, ABC One
Tuesday, 24 July 2012, at a special time of 8.30pm
