
World's Obese Population Hits 641M - okket
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/world-s-obese-population-hits-641-million/
======
welanes
Yikes. How sad.

Would be nice, for those who are overweight as well as those who suffer from
the externalities of those who are overweight, for Governments to treat
overeating/junk food like it does smoking and drinking - an addiction that
should be discouraged through education and disincentives (tax etc.). Some do
but it's obviously not effective.

Then there's the popular cultural angle. We disparage magazines, fashion
Houses and websites that present clinically underweight models as the
standard, the same should be applied for the clinically overweight.

~~~
ufukbay
I don't want to argue that the government can help to raise awareness but
isn't it more like personal choice in the end? I'm not obese but with a BMI of
27.8 definitely overweight. How is anyone else is going to help me to lose
weight if I don't realize myself that something is wrong and most important of
all that I need to change something?

I can decide if I want to drive to McDonald's or to the grocery store to buy
some vegetables or other healthy ingredients to prepare a more balanced meal.
The first is obviously easier and kinda more convenient but if you look at
what it does to your health then maybe not so convenient at all.

What I'm trying to say is that for example I used to love Coke and even drank
some for breakfast. I'm not the typical coffee addicted developer but I pumped
myself with energy drinks instead. After my brother forced me to get my sugar
levels throughly checked this year I saw that I was close to be diagnosed with
diabetes and figured that there is no other way than to change my diet.

~~~
skywhopper
The problem is that for a lot of poorer communities where obesity is most
rampant, there is no "grocery store to buy some vegetables or other healthy
ingredients" anywhere nearby and owning a car is not a given. So yes, making
good choices is important, and most posters on HN are lucky enough to have
healthy options easily accessible to them. But a lot of people, even in the
US, do not have realistic healthy options available to them.

------
x5n1
In other news corporations feeding people garbage report billions in profits.
Go to a supermarket, 90% of the food there is processed garbage. This is by
design. We are not healthy because we are being fed our desires for profit,
they create addictive food which is bad for you and costs nothing to produce
because there is profit in it. Great success for all of humanity.

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jonsen
Carbon sequestering. Less CO2 in the atmosphere. Let's hope they don't start
exercising.

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achow
_> …rising global trends in obesity should not overshadow the problem of many
people not getting enough to eat. In South Asia, for example, almost a quarter
of the population is underweight. In Central and East Africa, about 12 percent
of women and 15 percent of men are underweight._

The increase in the obesity gets even more alarming if one considers that out
of ~7 Billion world population, one can take ~3 Billion people (India + China
+ Central Africa) out of the equation as they are affected less than others
(the first infographics also supports this notion).

641M of 7B = 10%

600M of 4B = 15%

(Approx numbers just for getting some ballpark indicators)

~~~
dudul
From the article: "More obese men and women now live in _China_ and the United
States than in any other country."

~~~
achow
Yes saw that. But the infographic shows that China is relatively 'green' than
other parts of the world (along with India and Central Africa).

My takeway from it (could be wrong) is that in absolute numbers there would be
more obese people in china than say in some countries in middle east, but as a
percentage of population they are small.

I knew from other other readings that in China this is due to younger
generation.

"Within one generation, the percentage of Chinese children who are overweight
or obese has skyrocketed from 5% to 20%. The rate has absolutely exploded,
over a very limited amount of time." [http://www.theguardian.com/global-
development-professionals-...](http://www.theguardian.com/global-development-
professionals-network/2015/nov/24/defusing-chinas-childhood-obesity-timebomb)

------
dewyatt
I think "Sugar: The Bitter Truth" [1] is worth watching. And the newer "The
Skinny on Obesity" [2].

[1]
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBnniua6-oM](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBnniua6-oM)

[2]
[https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL39F782316B425249&fea...](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL39F782316B425249&feature=iv&src_vid=dBnniua6-oM&annotation_id=annotation_945547)

~~~
cbd1984
These are factually incorrect, as has been proven:

[http://anthonycolpo.com/sweet-stupidity-part-1-is-sugar-
real...](http://anthonycolpo.com/sweet-stupidity-part-1-is-sugar-really-as-
bad-as-alcohol-cocaine-heroin/)

[http://anthonycolpo.com/sweet-stupidity-part-2-the-bitter-
tr...](http://anthonycolpo.com/sweet-stupidity-part-2-the-bitter-truth-about-
robert-lustigs-anti-sugar-claims/)

------
greendestiny_re
I lost 20 pounds in two months by dropping bread/carbs/sweets and eating
chicken drumsticks and salad every day. I can finally see my iliac ridge.

~~~
Avshalom
Fun thought: the people that told you to eat more carbs are the same people
that came up with bmi numbers

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ghshephard
I would rather have 641mm people obese, and solve that problem, than the
alternative (641mm starving people, and try to get them food).

The major concern, of course, is that "scientists" on this topic keep changing
the advice they give to people, so by the time people finally absorb, and
start practicing what they were told to do - the next set of guidance comes
out, that is, in some cases, _precisely_ the opposite of what they were told
previous.

Here in Singapore, just today, the front page of the newspaper said, "White
Rice causing Diabetes, 1 plate of rice = 2 cans of sugary soda." \- while on
the inside of the paper, there were talks about increasing taxes on soda, but
nothing on white rice....

Hopefully, we'll eventually get some evidence/science based information,
guidance, and policy, but I'm not optimistic.

~~~
zeemonkee3
Referring to "scientists" that way is unfair.

Nutrition scientists and doctors are working with the human body and its
surrounding environment, an exceedingly complex model. They publish their
findings in journals with cautions and caveats and data.

A mainstream journalist with traffic quotas or column inches to fill on a slow
news day then skims these journals for the next "X makes you fat" or "Y gives
you cancer" headline without bothering to read the fine print.

~~~
ghshephard
I'm not referring to the journalists, I'm referring to the peer reviewed
papers, and the scientific consensus regarding proper diet, that turned out to
be not only false, but false in a way that likely could have been demonstrated
with just a few, fairly straightforward research studies.

It starts, of course, with Dr. Ancel keys, but he wasn't the only person who
signed off on the consensus that a high-carbohydrate diet was the right model
for the American people.

I use the scare quotes, because what took place after that, was probably the
furthest thing from science you could imagine - presuming we agree that the
objective of science isn't to pile on the latest theory, but instead to
strengthen those theories, by trying to disprove them.

------
cJ0th
> It found that over the past four decades, the average age-corrected male BMI
> rose to 24.2 from 21.7, and in women rose to 24.4 from 22.1.

Could this be due to an increase in people going to the gym? A bmi of 24.x is
still < 30 and not unhealthy.

Therefore, I wonder whether we see two different things here: 1.) More people
become obese (those with an bmi > 30 [and even there could be some corner
cases due to the fact that bmi is by no means a perfect measure]) and 2.) more
people lift weights/become (somewhat) healthier.

~~~
ghshephard
The number of people (A) going to the gym, (B) doing resistance exercise to
build up lean body mass, and (C) doing so on a regular enough basis to make a
difference - is round off error.

The entire reason why Gyms are so profitable, is an insignificant number of
people who sign up, actually ever go.

~~~
omegaham
Incidentally, this is why serious gyms, which are built for powerlifters,
Olympic weightlifters, strongmen, and similarly dedicated athletes, charge a
lot more money. When you get a membership at a 24-Hour Fitness for $30 per
month, you're being subsidized by all the resolutioners who buy a membership
and never show up.

Meanwhile, powerlifting gyms cater exclusively to the people who will show up
5 days a week, every week. You don't have that massive pool of resolutioners
to provide effort-free cash, so you have to charge more money.

Of course, on the other end is Planet Fitness, which specifically caters to
the specific demographics who don't show up and actively discourages the
people who will show up 5 days a week. Brilliant strategy.

This is also why every lifter bitches about the lack of squat racks, cramped
lifting spaces, and fuckstick trainers at corporate gyms. They are often a net
_negative_ for the gym, so the gym doesn't care about them; the folks who
occasionally show up and do 20 minutes on the elliptical are where the money
is.

~~~
ghshephard
This, in a nutshell, was why I was so ecstatic about the $20/month membership
at Powerhouse Gym (with a $150 sign up fee) downtown Redwood City, CA. Perfect
location, not one, but _two_ squat racks that were rarely used. Shoulder press
rack. They didn't get on your case if you dropped your deadlift and smack
chalk all over the place, and had towel service and really decent showers.

I didn't realize, until I visited many, many other cities - that finding a gym
that you can do your squats/deadlift/shoulder press three times a week for
$20, is pretty much unheard of.

I sometimes even see it advertised for $17 (presumably with a slightly higher
sign up fee) - This is really clever - if you've already invested, say, $200,
and you have this pretty cool downtown gym, and it's _only_ $17/month - why on
earth would you ever cancel...

------
Avshalom
Of course it does. HDI and obesity correlate quite well. Of course our
definition of obesity is also completely arbitrary so...

~~~
ihsw
What is arbitrary about it? It's pretty straightforward -- when a person has
so much body fat that it has a negative effect on their health.

Sure, it depends on the person and their tolerance _negative effect_ , but
there isn't any fumbling with BMI or flatly checking a person's weight.

~~~
Avshalom
Arbitrary because A) BMI (the measure that this article and all obesity crisis
statistics use) is a nonsense number that for instance penalizes you for being
tall (hey guess what happens when children grow up healthy? They grow up
taller) B) the number at which you 'become' obese has no real medical backing
(partly because it's a nonsense number.

The American obesity crisis for instance is largely because we dropped our
arbitrary threshold down to the WHO's threshold and gained some tens of
millions of obese citizens in the process.

------
microcolonel
It's going to be tough for me to find a wife.

------
VanHing
When you walk into Tesco everyday noticing that crisps for dinner would be the
cheapest option, this report is no big surprise!

~~~
Maarten88
Brittish? I'll never be able to think of crisps as dinner.

And wouldn't noodlesoup be even cheaper, and healtier too?

~~~
pessimizer
> And wouldn't noodlesoup be even cheaper, and healtier too?

That would depend on if the crisps were fried in transfats. Otherwise they
both end up as a ball of diabetes-causing carb covered in salt.

------
melloclello
Isn't obesity a uh good problem to have?

~~~
stevekemp
Sure not starving is good. Beyond that, you tell us:

[http://www.tlc.com/tv-shows/my-600-lb-
life/videos/7-000-calo...](http://www.tlc.com/tv-shows/my-600-lb-
life/videos/7-000-calories-a-day/)

~~~
pessimizer
Of course, people this fat are 0.00001% of the population, so I'm not sure
it's the best example.

------
Olscore
The 641M number provides context for the media narratives regarding fat
acceptance and body shaming. Perhaps worse than the epidemic of people being
overweight, is growing sympathy to accept and not to do anything about it. If
you have been following social justice issues you will understand what I am
referring to. This issue is beyond health, since it has been made political.
Addressing it likely requires fighting back against rhetoric from the fat
acceptance movement. (Not looking for an argument, just saying.)

~~~
omegaworks
>Perhaps worse than the epidemic of people being overweight, is growing
sympathy to accept and not to do anything about it.

Really? Worse then actual suffering and societal costs is the treatment of
obesity as a disease and not a character flaw? Not only should people suffer,
but they should be shamed for it.

That's ridiculous. Just saying.

~~~
Olscore
> Really? Worse then actual suffering and societal costs is the treatment of
> obesity as a disease and not a character flaw? Not only should people
> suffer, but they should be shamed for it.

What an overly sensitive response. How ridiculous is Hacker News? Where did I
say anything about [1] the suffering, [2] societal costs, or [3] treatment of
obesity as a disease?

Mentioned it's political and has a media component to it, get attacked. There
factually are people, like the parent comment, who will not fairly discuss the
issue on neutral terms. Derailed into personal attacks, insensitivity, or
straw man arguments like the above comment. How can HN parade itself as
intellectual discussion when it can't even handle benign comments.

~~~
pessimizer
You're being the overly sensitive one here. You said that fat people should be
shamed because being fat makes you sick, someone replied that it doesn't seem
right that people who are suffering because they are sick because they are fat
should also be suffering because they are being shamed because they are sick
because they are fat, and you started crying "I'm the victim in all of this!
I'm being shamed for suggesting that people should be shamed because they are
sick because they are fat! Won't somebody think about me!"

~~~
Olscore
> You said that fat people should be shamed because being fat makes you sick

Haha, is this a joke? Is anyone else seeing this insanity?

