Obesity rates in Europe, by country:

[marmar]

from Der Spiegel:





http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/0,1518,806194,00.html


...............................................


U.S. Obesity Trends
National Obesity Trends

About one-third of U.S. adults (33.8%) are obese.
Approximately 17% (or 12.5 million) of children and adolescents aged 2—19 years are obese.


http://www.cdc.gov/obesity/data/trends.html

[Weisbergkevin]

1. NOt surprisingly, most obese countries have a higher heart-disease death rate

Those at the top of the list of obese countries are likely to be at the top of heart-disease-related deaths: http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/hea_hea_dis_dea-health-heart-disease-deaths

[Hepburn]

2. Proud to say I am Romanian!

Maybe I should take a hint from my ancestors!

[slackmaster]

3. I'm a little suprised that Germany doesn't have a higher rate

But facts don't always coincide with prejudices.

[Bucky]

4. Ever been there? They eat sausage and drink beer, but then they bike home.

[Mira]

5. Also:

They simply don't eat the volume that Americans do. I used to live there.

[slackmaster]

6. Perhaps that's a serendipitous benefit of their uber-strict drunk driving laws.

[Snake Alchemist]

15. Correction: They eat sausage and drink A LOT of beer.

Drinking for 3 hours at lunch with the postmen in no easy feat. Also they love their heavy starches. Don't know that any amount of biking can burn those calories. Their genetic make-up helps.

[SOS]

8. Germans...

Drink like fish, smoke like chimneys and drive like maniacs.
And yet they live longer than Americans.

Our diet and mercantile medical system are not doing us any favors.

[Snake Alchemist]

13. Our genetic composition probably isn't helping either.

Would be interesting to do a study of Germanic populations in the US.

[Ford_Prefect]

7. It would be a good idea to compare these rates with smoking in the same populations.

I suspect the correlation would be instructive. Not that I believe there is a specific causative relationship between smoking and Obesity. I think that one of the causes of both is functioning in the cultural fictions distributed by advertising. I also suspect that there may be an addictive factor in some "popular" foods or additives to processed foods.

The research I have seen says that education level and income do correlate as contributing factors to Obesity. Hardly news says I.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

9. I'm not surprised at Norway's low rate

They take hiking and cross-country skiing to new levels.

[dawg]

10. The U.K. is worse than us.

I know, I know. We have 33.8% obesity and they only have 24.5%.

But if 24.5% of them can get obese eating *their* food - they must be worse off than us!

(Must be the mayo on the chips.)

[muriel_volestrangler]

12. Mayo on chips is completely alien to the British

Salt and vinegar is standard; tomato ketchup the alternative.

[dawg]

14. Thanks. That clears up a micsonception of mine.

I've been told that English cuisine is actually pretty good, but I like to tease.

[DavidDvorkin]

21. English cuisine is very good.

[GoneOffShore]

29. If you eat at expensive restaurants.

And they are VERY expensive.

You'll eat more cheaply and better in France, Italy and Spain.

[DavidDvorkin]

33. That wasn't my experience in England and France

I didn't eat at any expensive restaurants in England. I ate very good food at cheap places.

In France, I ate at various levels of restaurants and had food that varied from quite good to mediocre. It didn't seem to correspond to the price level of the restaurant, either.

[marmar]

19. Mayo on fries is more continental European.

nt

[FLSurfer]

11. graph looks like what I would expect.

Only thing that suprises me is the US.
I've seen our high rate of obesity quoted before but I don't see it in real life.
I really don't know anyone who would be considered obese. I don't see it amongst my kids friends.
Maybe it's regional but I just don't see it living on the beach in Florida.

[qb]

17. Come to the Minnesota State Fair. You'll see it!

[DavidDvorkin]

34. I'm even seeing more and more seriously obese people here in Denver

And yet Colorado is supposed to be the least obese state in the US.

[qb]

16. The illness is attacking from the West! Europe better do something before they get as fat as we are.

[bigwillq]

18. My Mom was surprised about how thin folks in Italy are

Mom and Dad visited a few years ago and that's one of the things she mentioned about the trip.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

24. It's those f--kin' shoes! You can't get fat feet in them!

arggghhh!

[bigwillq]

27. ha ha

LOL

[TwilightGardener]

22. I've never been to Europe, so I have no way to compare--but I wonder if portion size

and constant availability of junk food, HFCS and soft drinks play a role? My sons had friends who would down their own entire 2 liter bottles of Mt. Dew and Dr Pepper in an evening.

[Snake Alchemist]

23. You've probably hit on one of the biggest factors.

Portion size.

[TwilightGardener]

25. That must be it--I remember reading a quote from someone from the UK who was surprised

at the masses and piles of food Americans expect on their plates. We model our diets after the all you can eat buffet, I guess.

[Snake Alchemist]

26. A lot of Americans who travel to Europe complain about the small portion sizes.

They surmise that they are not getting enough for their money. I'm a big eater, but a bit of a fitness addict so I don't have much room to talk. I usually eat a whole pizza in a sitting.

[GoneOffShore]

28. We love the small portion sizes in Europe.

And never feel that we're not getting enough for our money.

The American (Broad Brush here & I know it) desire for abundance often results in the "this food is terrible and there's not enough of it". This accounts for the Olive Garden phenomenon I suspect.

[Snake Alchemist]

31. To each his own

Depends on what I'm in the mood for. I like a big meal after a big day, but most of the time I have 4 or 5 smaller ones. I'm not quick to disparage Olive Garden. I actually like their gnocchi soup and maybe 2 or 3 other dishes. The one thing I can't resist are Outback's cheese fries. Call me crazy.

[GoneOffShore]

32. Potatoes (even GMO ones), salt, heat and dairy fat? What's not to like?

I use Olive Garden as a sort of meme for the sorts of food that comes out of the corporatized factory farm type of restaurant. Tastes pretty good but probably has more calories than nutrition.

And, as someone who has been eating organic and local for over 20 years (I'm lucky, I have access and can afford it) I find that eating out, even at good restaurants can be a bit of a digestive trial, unless they source their ingredients really well.

If I had the cheese fries at Outback I'd probably end up on the bathroom floor at 2A even after taking Tums.

[Aerows]

30. I can only offer this

I don't drink soft drinks because I've never liked them. I only drink unsweetened iced tea, water or the occasional glass of milk. I have no weight problems and I eat just about anything I feel like eating, including Big Macs from McDonald's. Soft drinks play a big role, I believe, in our obesity problem. My sister, her husband and her children all constantly battle their weight. The two children are adopted from different regions of China, so it's not just genetics, either.

The can go through two litres of Pepsi, Diet Pepsi, Orange and Sprite at a rate that is just astonishing. My BIL only drinks Diet Pepsi, but it doesn't look like that helps either. I suspect it's the quantity. He can go through 2 two litres in a DAY.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

37. Supposedly drinks with artificial sweeteners trick your body into craving more food

That could be the reason.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

36. Japan definitely has smaller portion sizes

and a lot of Americans define a "good restaurant" as one where you get a lot of food for your money.

When a "family restaurant" has an all-you-can-eat special, it's always something like spaghetti, pancakes, French fries, or some other cheap, high-carb item. It's never "all the steamed vegetables you can eat."

[Stuart G]

35. We, and people from United Kingdom...stand out..if you go to Japan..

I was in Tokyo in 2007 and I was about 10 pounds overweight, clearly not obese and I saw that on one train I was on, that was filled up, I was the fattest person there..

[treestar]

38. Italy - kind of surprising

All those carbs - then again, maybe what I'm thinking of is more Italian-American than Italian.

[SoCalDem]

39. and most Italians bike & walk a lot more than we do here..n/t