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except, we aren't. people are fat everywhere. we aren't even the fattest country.

lostlogin 8y ago
What is more relevant here is fatness of population among car manufacturing nations. Not sure that the US wins that either though.
brianbreslin 8y ago
which country is the fattest? I assumed it was here in the US.
- jcranmer 8y ago
  In obesity rankings, Pacific island nations tend to top the list. I think Mexico is fatter than the US, as well as the the petrostates in the Middle East.
viraptor 8y ago
Not the fatest, but really close. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_body_mass_index https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_body_ma... 36.2% obesity, 12th place. Beaten mostly by small island nations. It's still the 1st most obese western country.
- kenhwang 8y ago
  BMI might not be the best indicator since it also factors in height. If we go by weight only, USA is #3 behind two small island nations. Americans are big. They also have more fat people than other western nations. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/earth/earthnews/9345086/The-worlds-fattest-countries-how-do-you-compare.html https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/earth/earthnews/9345086/The...
  - exclusiv 8y ago
    Your suggestion of weight only is even worse than BMI. That's like saying a 15 lb turkey is fatter than 12 lbs of lard. BMI doesn't account for muscle mass. If you have decent muscle you're overweight according to BMI. weight only < BMI < caliper measurements Any article that equates fatness with weight is not accurate.
    - kenhwang 8y ago
      I guess I'm trying to argue that Americans are more voluminous, and trying to approximate volume through mass since body volume by population isn't a commonly available stat. I'd argue that mass is closer correlated to volume than BMI.
    - sls 8y ago
      Usain Bolt and Michael Phelps have normal BMIs. BMI is very sensitive and not very specific, meaning that it has few false positives and lots of false negatives, the opposite of what you suggest. In this article[1] "Measuring Adiposity in Patients: The Utility of Body Mass Index (BMI), Percent Body Fat, and Leptin" you can see this dramatically illustrated in Figure 1 [2]. The upper left quadrant (different colors for men and women) is the most populous. It contains the people who are obese by body fat percentage but not BMI. The lower right is the least populated. It contains the people who are not obese by body fat percentage but who are flagged as obese by BMI. The small fraction of the population that have devoted such attention to the cultivation of muscle over other goals, such as athletic performance, are surely well aware of their body fat levels and are unlikely to be impacted by this edge case in BMI measurement. (Their excess muscle may also not be healthy for their cardiovascular system.) Dismissing the utility of a easily applied and highly sensitive screen like BMI is a mistake, both for individuals and for public health. [1] https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0033308 https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal... [2] https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/figure/image?size=large&id=info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0033308.g001 https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/figure/image?size=...

What is more relevant here is fatness of population among car manufacturing nations. Not sure that the US wins that either though.

brianbreslin 8y ago

which country is the fattest? I assumed it was here in the US.

jcranmer 8y ago
In obesity rankings, Pacific island nations tend to top the list. I think Mexico is fatter than the US, as well as the the petrostates in the Middle East.

viraptor 8y ago

Not the fatest, but really close. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_body_mass_index https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_body_ma... 36.2% obesity, 12th place. Beaten mostly by small island nations. It's still the 1st most obese western country.

kenhwang 8y ago
BMI might not be the best indicator since it also factors in height. If we go by weight only, USA is #3 behind two small island nations. Americans are big. They also have more fat people than other western nations. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/earth/earthnews/9345086/The-worlds-fattest-countries-how-do-you-compare.html https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/earth/earthnews/9345086/The...
- exclusiv 8y ago
  Your suggestion of weight only is even worse than BMI. That's like saying a 15 lb turkey is fatter than 12 lbs of lard. BMI doesn't account for muscle mass. If you have decent muscle you're overweight according to BMI. weight only < BMI < caliper measurements Any article that equates fatness with weight is not accurate.
  - kenhwang 8y ago
    I guess I'm trying to argue that Americans are more voluminous, and trying to approximate volume through mass since body volume by population isn't a commonly available stat. I'd argue that mass is closer correlated to volume than BMI.
  - sls 8y ago
    Usain Bolt and Michael Phelps have normal BMIs. BMI is very sensitive and not very specific, meaning that it has few false positives and lots of false negatives, the opposite of what you suggest. In this article[1] "Measuring Adiposity in Patients: The Utility of Body Mass Index (BMI), Percent Body Fat, and Leptin" you can see this dramatically illustrated in Figure 1 [2]. The upper left quadrant (different colors for men and women) is the most populous. It contains the people who are obese by body fat percentage but not BMI. The lower right is the least populated. It contains the people who are not obese by body fat percentage but who are flagged as obese by BMI. The small fraction of the population that have devoted such attention to the cultivation of muscle over other goals, such as athletic performance, are surely well aware of their body fat levels and are unlikely to be impacted by this edge case in BMI measurement. (Their excess muscle may also not be healthy for their cardiovascular system.) Dismissing the utility of a easily applied and highly sensitive screen like BMI is a mistake, both for individuals and for public health. [1] https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0033308 https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal... [2] https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/figure/image?size=large&id=info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0033308.g001 https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/figure/image?size=...