6 ms·
Charts of alcohol consumption, obesity, and physical activity in Europe
- ajays 14y agoThere is a flaw in the obesity chart. If you will note, the highest obesity countries are actually based on measurements; the rest of them as self-reported. If you ask a person (especially a man) if they're obese, quite a few will say "no"[1]. Mixing different measurement techniques is a no-no, and makes for flawed conclusions. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illusory_superiority http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illusory_superiority
- dkuebric 14y agoI interpreted this as the country self-reporting, not the individuals.
- DanBC 14y agoSection 4, 4.1 and 4.2 gives details about how the data is collected for each country. (http://www.oecd.org/els/healthpoliciesanddata/TableofContentMetadataOECDHealthData2012.pdf http://www.oecd.org/els/healthpoliciesanddata/TableofContent...)
- rizzom5000 14y agoAs an American I found the update quite interesting. Americans have a 35.9% obesity rate versus 28.5% for the most obese European country. I'd like to understand why that is, but would guess that the US obsession with cars, parking lots and suburbs is one reason. Another might be related to the fact that Americans tend to, on average, do more poorly, on standardized education tests, which could imply that we have more people here who are ill equipped to understand how things like nutrition, calories and physiology work.
- rayiner 14y agoThere are a lot of demographic factors in play too. The US has a much higher proportion of blacks and Hispanics than any European country. These groups are 51% and 21% more likely than whites to be categorized as obese using the usual methods. The US also has a far higher percentage of people livif in rural and suburban areas. In my own experience, my equillibrium weight when I was living in the suburbs of virginia was notably higher than when I was living in New York or Chicago. The same is true for educational metrics, by the way. The so-called standardized testing gap between the US and European countries almost disappears when you adjust for demographics.
- msh 14y agoCould those groups higher (if they are higher, I don't know) obesity be attributed to poverty? In general, poor Americans, are way worse off than poor people in most EU countries.
- notdrunkatall 14y agoEver visited a poor country? There aren't many obese people in poor countries for one very obvious reason.
- msh 14y agoPovertry in first world countries are different from povertry in, for example, africa. There are poor people in europe and the US, they are not poor in the sense that a african can be poor but that is not the same as they are not poor and that their behavior are not influenced by their poverty.
- notdrunkatall 14y agoLet's not conflate the issue. If poverty was a contributing factor for obesity, then poor people worldwide would show higher rates of poverty. People don't get fat because they are poor, they get fat because they don't care that they're getting fat. If anything, being poor would be a disincentive for obesity - why spend money on something that you don't have to when money's in short supply? By basic logic, the poorer you are, the less obese you should tend to be. Notwithstanding the occasional actual medical condition which leads to obesity, being obese is a conscious, cultural decision, and blaming it on poverty seems ridiculous.
- rogerbinns 14y agoAnother possibility is that US people tend to work longer hours and for more days of the year. Workplaces are not good conditions for exercise and food. And once away from work it is easier to go for convenience (eg fast food) due to limited time availability.
- Hawkee 14y agoWhat I find most striking is that most European countries have a bigger alcohol problem than America. I might not have guessed that right away. I wonder if it's mainly due to the stronger Christian influence in America.
- themgt 14y agoThe fact that they all live longer, healthier lives than Americans might suggest that they don't actually have a bigger alcohol "problem" That said, UK drinking culture is abysmal
- aioprisan 14y agoor the fact that there are no drinking laws in most of Europe (or hardly enforced). As a 16 year old, no one will deny you a beer in Germany or France, but good luck getting a drop in the US in most places.
- mseidl 14y agoWhy would a 16 year old be denied a beer in Germany? Sixteen is the drinking age for beer and wine. And then 18 for hard alcohol. I think the drinking age in the USA is a joke. At 18 you are responsible enough to be given a gun and kill people in the military, but you are not yet responsible enough for alcohol.
- tripzilch 14y agoUHh what? We do have drinking laws, except they're at different ages. In the Netherlands it's 16 for beer and wine and 18 for hard liquor (>15% ABV, except wine, port, vermouth and sherry).