Fat People In Deutschland, Oh my!
I thought that I detected more fat people than usual on my annual trips back to the homeland. Now it has been confirmed. Germans are fatter than their European neighbors. But then the food is so incredibly good there. Especially the sweets and baked goods. However, even with all the rich tempting food, Germans were not particularly fat. Till now.
Sadly,young German kids are eating as much junk food as American kids these days. McDonalds and Pizza have become a way of life there as well as in France.
Der Spiegel
NEW OBESITY RANKINGS
Germans Are Fattest People in Europe, Study Shows
A new study has found that Germany has the highest proportion of overweight people in Europe, partly due to the country's high beer consumption. But Britain, Greece and some Eastern Europe countries have an even higher share of truly obese people.
Germans are the fattest people in Europe according to an international study, but Britain and Greece have a higher proportion of clinically obese people.
The study by the International Association for the Study of Obesity found that in Germany 75.4 percent of men and 58.9 percent of women are overweight, far higher than levels in Italy and France.
The organization classifies people as overweight if their Body Mass Index is greater than 25. The index is arrived at by dividing one's weight in kilos by the squared height in meters. For example a man who weighs 75 kilos and is 1.8 meters tall has a BMI of 23.15 (75: 1.80² = 23.15).
But Germany is behind the Greeks, British and some Eastern European countries when it comes to obesity, classified as a BMI above 30.
Germans top the survey's EU overweight and obesity ranking.
Vojtech Hainer, president of IASO's European section, said Germans had not yet reached US levels of obesity. "Of all industrial states the US is the country with the highest proportion of obese people," he told SPIEGEL ONLINE.
Berthold Koletzko, food expert at Munich University, said there was a correlation between overweight and beer consumption. "Germans and the Czechs are the biggest beer drinkers, " he told Süddeutsche Zeitung newspaper. Both countries are at or near the top of Europe's fatness ranking.
Obesity is regarded as one of the biggest health risks in developed countries. Obesity-related diseases include diabetes and heart problems.
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2 comments:
"Sadly, young German kids are eating as much junk food as American kids these days."
It's just impossible to only say that Germans are fat because they eat too much and drink too much. It's like a European cultural imperative to include a culturally degrading remark about the Americans with a hint of "but they're just as bad" or "at least we're not that bad."
Define your Germanness by who you are, not by who you are not. But then again I find that German patriotism, if not expressed outright, usually manifests itself as culturally degrading and disdaining statements about the USA.
Aber wenn es dir dabei hilft, deine Identitaet aufzupeppen, damit du nie wirklich kritisch ueber Deutschland als einzelnes Land denken musst, dann bleib ruhig subjektiv. Aber vergiss nicht, wo du bist und welches Land dich z.Zt. foerdert und unterstuetzt. :)
Frohe Ostern!
Hi I just found your article. I believe that the increase in obesity in industrialized nations, especially in the United States, has to do with an abundance of High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) as well as cheaply processed bleached white flour. This factor alone is contributing an alarming proportion to obesity. Unfortunately, the use of HFCS is increasing outside of the USA, into Europe. I hope your country doesn't have to suffer this scourage.
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