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> That we are all overweight is another. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_obesity_rate https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_obe

> That we are all overweight is another. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_obesity_rate https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_obesity_r... Obesity vs overweight (the former is surely a better predictor of health outcomes anyway) aside, we’re definitely higher than comparable nations, but I wouldn’t say significantly so.

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lynx23 4y ago
The trick is to spread consumerism ads and fastfood chains all other the world, such that this list doesn't show a big difference. If you manage to pollute everyone else fast enough, statistics can be blurred to a point where there is obviously no reason to act.
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- forgetfreeman 4y ago
  Did that already. There's a pizza hut within line of site of the Great Pyramids at Giza.
ghayes 4y ago
Definitely an interesting read, though I'd counter that 30% higher in the US than in the UK feels significant (36.2% versus 27.8%).
- FartyMcFarter 4y ago
  For extra context, the UK has a higher rate of obesity than any EU country. So the US is a definite outlier amongst advanced economies.
inglor_cz 4y ago
Yes you are, especially when it comes to the "landwhale" category of 400+ pounds. Even the link you provided says that the US would fit among the Arab countries, but would be a major outlier in Europe. There are people with bellies here, BMI > 30, but the "unable to walk without a motorized wheelchair" category is rare. I live in the Czech Republic, a notorious beer-guzzling nation that was never known for being slim. But the kind of obscene, ballooning fatness that is ubiquitous in the US was never seen here until, say, 2015. Unfortunately I slowly see it slowly emerging among the youth, probably the ones who live on the fastfood diet. (Fast food used to be relatively expensive compared to Czech salaries, so people wouldn't gorge on it everyday, but this has changed and now it one of the cheaper options out there.)
wizofaus 4y ago
If you're looking at large countries (>5M) with genetically diverse populations, it's #1. That the top 10 are all smaller countries primarily populated with those with pacific islander/Polynesian backgrounds is remarkable though. Hard to argue there's not something genetic going on there, though apparently there is a cultural preference for larger body size (equating it with material wealth) in at least some such countries. It's presumably also the reason NZ has measurably higher obesity rates than we do in AUS. Perhaps surprisingly the US is only #20 on the list of countries sorted by average BMI, and not that much higher than NZ (or even AUS). I haven't been to the US in well over 10 years now but perhaps we're just playing catch-up here, as at the time I remember being shocked just how many people with truly massive bodies seemed to be commonplace in a way I'd never observed back home. Having said all that, I happen to know there's a school of thought that many (if not most) of the health issues supposedly "caused" by being overweight are largely an artifact of health professionals being so focused on their patients' weight that they fail to diagnose other health issues early on, or that patients no longer feel comfortable speaking to their doctors etc. The fact that the stats on diabetes/stroke/heart failure etc. correlate so strongly with obesity across such a large range of countries, even those where apparently "fat shaming" isn't a thing, leads me to be somewhat skeptical of that POV.

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lynx23 4y ago

The trick is to spread consumerism ads and fastfood chains all other the world, such that this list doesn't show a big difference. If you manage to pollute everyone else fast enough, statistics can be blurred to a point where there is obviously no reason to act.

deleted 4y ago
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forgetfreeman 4y ago
Did that already. There's a pizza hut within line of site of the Great Pyramids at Giza.

ghayes 4y ago

Definitely an interesting read, though I'd counter that 30% higher in the US than in the UK feels significant (36.2% versus 27.8%).

FartyMcFarter 4y ago
For extra context, the UK has a higher rate of obesity than any EU country. So the US is a definite outlier amongst advanced economies.

inglor_cz 4y ago

Yes you are, especially when it comes to the "landwhale" category of 400+ pounds. Even the link you provided says that the US would fit among the Arab countries, but would be a major outlier in Europe. There are people with bellies here, BMI > 30, but the "unable to walk without a motorized wheelchair" category is rare. I live in the Czech Republic, a notorious beer-guzzling nation that was never known for being slim. But the kind of obscene, ballooning fatness that is ubiquitous in the US was never seen here until, say, 2015. Unfortunately I slowly see it slowly emerging among the youth, probably the ones who live on the fastfood diet. (Fast food used to be relatively expensive compared to Czech salaries, so people wouldn't gorge on it everyday, but this has changed and now it one of the cheaper options out there.)

wizofaus 4y ago

If you're looking at large countries (>5M) with genetically diverse populations, it's #1. That the top 10 are all smaller countries primarily populated with those with pacific islander/Polynesian backgrounds is remarkable though. Hard to argue there's not something genetic going on there, though apparently there is a cultural preference for larger body size (equating it with material wealth) in at least some such countries. It's presumably also the reason NZ has measurably higher obesity rates than we do in AUS. Perhaps surprisingly the US is only #20 on the list of countries sorted by average BMI, and not that much higher than NZ (or even AUS). I haven't been to the US in well over 10 years now but perhaps we're just playing catch-up here, as at the time I remember being shocked just how many people with truly massive bodies seemed to be commonplace in a way I'd never observed back home. Having said all that, I happen to know there's a school of thought that many (if not most) of the health issues supposedly "caused" by being overweight are largely an artifact of health professionals being so focused on their patients' weight that they fail to diagnose other health issues early on, or that patients no longer feel comfortable speaking to their doctors etc. The fact that the stats on diabetes/stroke/heart failure etc. correlate so strongly with obesity across such a large range of countries, even those where apparently "fat shaming" isn't a thing, leads me to be somewhat skeptical of that POV.