fat and fatter

In the 1990's China had one of the lowest obesity rates in the world. Obesity in the rural population stood at less than 1% and in Beijing, it was 4% for men and 8% for women. Today, the BBC reports that obesity levels in China are surpassing 25%, with the poor and rural being more commonly affected. Some consider the rural pattern counter-intuitive, but is in line with that of other developing nations. Many had assumed that the richer urban populations that increasingly switched to Western diets would be more susceptible and more obese. Not so. 

It therefore seems rather obvious that the culprit is found in a new life style characterized by less activity and more "leisure time." As China's agriculture becomes industrialized and more people drive motorcycles, and cars instead of bicycles, obesity is on the rise. Another marker is also on the rise: the amount of time spent watching TV (munching cookies and drinking sodas no doubt).

The high fat, high sugar diets surely don't help matters but in China, diet changes are more extensive among the well off urban populations, who happen to be less obese. Be that as it may, nationwide obesity is an ongoing trend and predictions are that China's obesity rates could double within the next 20 years. That would bring China in line with the "civilized world."

One thing seems quite clear: what many would call progress and an increase in the standard of living, is really a double edged sword. It comes at a great cost to health and personal well-being.

Advanced societies as we'd like to call them have overweight and obesity rates higher than 50%. Nations on the path to such "luxury" are seeing their overweight rates grow to similarly high numbers. It appears therefore that, regardless of race, ethnicity, or culture, the price we pay for "progress" is that over half the population becomes distinctly unhealthy or chronically ill. As one Harvard researcher put it, obesity is defined in terms of adverse effects on health, not population norms. The latter goes without saying. Otherwise we would have adjusted our labels since the average and the median cases are now firmly in the overweight category.

And what about the food crisis you may ask? Although 25% of the world is malnourished, it appears that even more are over-nourished. Or maybe malnourished in the sense of excess calories.