Study Shows World-Wide Obesity
A one day survey of weight the world over shows that the rest of the world is catching up with the leader in overweight people, the United States. You can read a BBC news story summarizing the results, but a few things caught my attention.
Overweight is defined by having a BMI over 25. A BMI of over 30 is defined as obese. The problem I have with the “overweight” category is this. I play hockey and hike regularly. My main hobby is gardening. No one that looks at me would say I am overweight by even a few of pounds. But… I have a BMI of 26. Years ago when I was working out with weights more regularly, my BMI was 28. So according to all of these studies, I am overweight and at risk for heart disease, diabetes, and cancer. Clearly, because of the wide range of muscle and bone mass in humans, the use of just BMI to measure obesity is flawed. Some people with BMI’s of 22 could indeed be overweight, while others, like myself, with BMI’s well over 25 are not overweight at all.
Now this survey also looked at waist circumference in addition to BMI, but it is a bit unclear how that measurement factored into the interpretation of the results. I can not see how they determined what waist measurements were too high, but 56% of the men and 71% of the women in the study were said to be too fat around their mid-section.
There are also some numbers in the BBC report that are hard to figure out. One paragraph states that just 7% of people in eastern Asia were “obese” compared to 36% in Canada, and 40% in South Africa. It is stated that Canada, Europe and South Africa are catching up with the U.S., “long considered the country with the worst weight problem”. However, the article also states that 2/3 of Americans are overweight, with 1/3 of those obese. If I do the math correctly, this means 23% of Americans are obese, well below the levels in Canada and South Africa. Clearly something is wrong with the BBC’s interpretation of the numbers. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that the U.S. has an obesity rate of 32.9. Even the higher number now puts us below the level of Canada and South Africa.
It is also interesting to see that Americans, long thought of as the fattest humans on earth, may be less overweight than people in many other countries. It is also interesting that Eastern Asia, which I guess is basically Japan, has the lowest level of obesity at 7%. This is quite a low number compared to the rest of the world. Regardless of the true numbers, there can be no argument that falling into the BMI’s obese category of greater that 30 is an indication of real problems with your health. In the U.S. if 70% of people are overweight and 33% obese, we have a real problem. I wonder if any studies have shown exactly how much of our health care dollars are “eaten” up by this obesity epidemic?
Choose from box
Will,
Great blog!!!
It does sound like there is something wrong with the numbers.
I’ve always thought way too much sodium has been dumped into processed foods and feel this is one of the reasons for all the obesity.
I avoid salt as much as possible but realize I need some intake for the iodine.
Thanks so much for posting about the coddling moth larvae that could be the reason for my apple crop blight. Jeff and I will look into it.
We only had a bushel of good apples from six prolific trees.
Hugs, JJ
Comment by JJ Loch — October 23, 2007 @ 7:06 pm
Thanks JJ! I found your comment in the spam filter and got it out quick as you certainly don’t belong there! Filtering is not perfect I guess, but is necessary. I get hundreds of spam posts to comments every week!
I don’t know if all the salt in processed food contains iodine. I know you can buy it with or without at the grocery. Here is a link with some information about iodine in salt. http://www.newton.dep.anl.gov/askasci/bio99/bio99535.htm
There is a lot of info online about the coddling moth. I found that by using traps, I can catch a bunch of the moths before they lay their eggs, but timing is critical there. However I still lose more than 1/2 of my apples to the moth larvae. I do get enough apples even with the damage and prefer this to regular spraying with chemicals.
-Will
Comment by Will — October 25, 2007 @ 12:12 pm
Hi Will, did you hear that expression about ’skinny fat people’, I think that is you, lol. I not sure where I stand, but I remember few years ago when I worked for large corp, the owner was very big on preventative medicine. We had heaven, however, he did not realize that he was killing us with demanding working hours etc. But one day they came up with this offer, that they will give us free day on top of our vacation days but in return we had to maintain our weight, eat healthy, and those who were overweigth by BMI standards, had to somehow bring it down in the certain period to get the one day off. We couldn’t believe how many people - skinny people, we had around with high BMI.
Comment by Anna — October 26, 2007 @ 11:08 am
Ha Anna - I guess I am not really a skinny person. I have a larger than average muscle mass and probably could lose 5 pounds of fat to be at an ideal weight. But my blood pressure and cholesterol are low, I am quite active, and I eat a very healthy diet. No guarantees, but all things considered, probably lowering my health risks about as well as anyone can.
A doctor I know told me that he could often tell more about weight with one look at a person than he could by calculating BMI. But he said he still used the BMI also because sometimes he was fooled. He says that some people just have a larger bone and muscle density than others. He also said that many overweight see themselves as big-boned. Often that is not the case, but a good physical exam tells him the truth.
Other things like blood tests and blood pressure tests are important. Many skinny people have heart attacks or strokes and some fat people do not. Someone once said “you are what you eat”. To that I would add, “no matter what you look like”. A skinny person can have a horrible diet. An moderately overweight person can sometimes have a healthy diet. Within reason, I don’t think absolute body weight or BMI are terribly important factors.
-Will
Comment by Will — October 26, 2007 @ 1:09 pm
I just recently wrote a blog piece on weight loss scams, really odd-ball stuff: caffeine patches, tights, and sunscreens; Slim Slippers (lose weight through reflexology and by walking on magnets); even weight loss earrings.
When I finished this piece I could only shake my head. Some of the worst scams I’ve ever seen. I’m amazed at the big numbers of people who actually fall for this stuff.
Nice to read this, get back to sensible approaches.
Comment by Jack Payne — November 2, 2007 @ 7:29 pm
Beeing overweight is one of the most common causes for heart disease and other health issues and, as it was said before, too much salt in our food is one of the causes of obesity. Anyway, all the eating disorder treatments should start by teaching people what and how much to eat.
Comment by Eating Disorder Treatment — April 23, 2008 @ 8:49 am