Originally Posted by mmkn
I guess at the heart of my criticism is the influences behind the serving portions in the U.S.
There's that, and also the caloric density of processed / fast food / restaurant chain food that is marketed to Americans, combined with a slide toward greater phiysical inactivity.
This is a worldwide trend, and Americans are simply at the leading edge.
Forget the population stastistics, which are bad enough: look at the numbers for American children to see how grim the future is going to be.
Germaine to the "expensive clothing hobby," obesity used to be associated with poverty in the US. This has gone out the window...some old numbers, but you can extrapolate to today easily enough.
Here are the income-obesity statistics for 1971-1974:
Less than $25,000: 22.5% obese
$25,000-$40,000: 16.1% obese
$40,000-$60,000: 14.5% obese
More than $60,000: 9.7% obese
Here are the results for 2001-2002:
Less than $25,000: 32.5% obese
$25,000-$40,000: 31.3% obese
$40,000-$60,000: 30.3% obese
More than $60,000: 26.8% obese
Here's how much obesity increased in each category:
Less than $25,000: increase of 144%
$25,000-$40,000: increase of 194%
$40,000-$60,000: increase of 209%
More than $60,000: increase of 276%
Numbers are based on national surveys of adults who were at least 20 years old. Obesity was defined as body mass index (BMI) of 30 or higher. Income was adjusted to year 2000 U.S. dollars.
The statistics don't include people who are overweight but not obese (BMI of 25-29.9).