In fact, obesity is considered a modern epidemic in most parts of the world. The most commonly used method of measuring obesity is the Body Mass Index, or BMI, which divides a person's weight in kilograms by their height in meters squared. Medically speaking, BMI scores break down as follows:.
BMI is not a perfect measure. In particular, it can sometimes give a "false positive" score to athletic individuals, whose high BMIs are due not to excess body fat, but to excess muscle.
As a result of this inaccuracy, many medical experts are switching to waist-to-height ratio, or WHtR, which compares the circumference of a person's waist to their height. Over time, as it is adopted by more countries, WHtR could easily replace BMI as the de facto measure of a person's weight health.
Obesity rates vary significantly by country as a result of different lifestyles and diets. There is no direct correlation between the obesity rate of a country and its economic status; however, wealthier countries tend to have more resources to implement programs, campaigns, and initiatives to raise awareness and education people about what they are consuming.
Many children on the island are not getting enough physical activity. Only 15 percent of children reported being physically active for at least an hour a day. On the other hand, 33 percent of children reported that they spend at least three hours per day doing sitting activities.
Obesity has become a social norm that many children have accepted and do not see anything wrong with. Because of the easy money the country was able to gain from phosphate mining, people stopped farming and fishing and found it easier to import canned and frozen foods.
The classic Mediterranean diet - pasta, vegetables and fruit - is one of the healthiest in the world. The rate of increase has been second only to the US for men. One in four men and one in three women is overweight and about 12 million are obese.
Chile with an average BMI of The scale of increase in obesity in southern Latin America is second only to the US among men and ranks fifth among women. Rates of obesity soared in Chile with the end of its dictatorship in and a surge in fast food restaurants and some critics are now calling for a junk food tax to be imposed.
Bangladesh is the world's thinnest nation, with an average BMI of Rice is the staple diet and millions go without enough to eat. More than half of children - more than 9 million - are underweight and have stunted growth. Nauru is the world's fattest country, with an average BMI of 34 to Obesity may seem like a small price to pay for access to the modern world and all its comforts and opportunities.
But conditions associated with obesity are starting to take their toll. In Nauru, an estimated 45 percent of adults may be diabetic. Life expectancies, which rose throughout the region for decades, have begun to plateau in recent years because of weight-related health problems. Education programs encouraging people to eat local, healthier foods have helped bring obesity rates down in Tonga, Fiji, and Hawaii.
Shusha was the key to the recent war between Azerbaijan and Armenia. Now Baku wants to turn the fabled fortress town into a resort. Evolution has been overwhelmed by Western lifestyles. By Joshua E. February 9, , AM. Tag: Economics. Analysis Vidya Krishnan.
0コメント