WE'RE NOT THAT FAT (redux)Turns out that your momma is more likely to be one of her majesty's loyal subjects than a german citizen. A bored google query from work last night found the following statistics on obesity in the United Kingdom:
** A critical footnote to this study: For most countries figures are based upon self-reported information instead of data from health care professionals. This is important to note because "obesity estimates arising from health examinations by professionals are generally higher and more reliable than those coming from self-reports in health interview surveys." Obesity was measured by determining a subjects Body Mass Index (and i'll grant you that BMI is far from a perfect measurement method), so any self-reported data can potentially be skewed by people giving their wrong height or weight. The data for the UK and USA was collected from health professionals. If self-reported data from the USA had been used, we would have had an adult obesity rate of only 17.9% for the year 2001. It appears as if we have yet another popular myth destroyed. While America is clearly the global pudgy trend-setter, our dominance in this field is far from secure. So while the Euros wave their arms in disgust at the fat, lazy american, recognize that they're peddling stereotypes. The same people also consider it common knowledge that the naked eye can confirm that gravity does much less work over in Europe, but how significant a difference is a mere 8% of the population? Does less than one additional overweight person out of 10, or 8 additional in a crowd of 100, really make that much of an impression on your eye? I sincerely doubt it. Here's a fact from the OECD for the Atkin's people; Italy and her pasta based diet has the fifth lowest obesity rate listed, weighing in with only 8.6% of its adult population considered obese. |
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