South Pacific is 'fattest region'

[Henny]

By Phil Mercer
BBC News, Sydney 

A survey on obesity has shown that the South Pacific is the world's most overweight region.
The tiny republic of Nauru is the fattest nation on earth. About 94% of its adult population is overweight.

The WHO has warned that poor diet and a lack of exercise increase the risk of illness and premature death.

Doctors say obesity can lead to heart disease and arthritis, and fat children are increasingly being condemned to a lifetime of ill health and disability.

Junk food

In a list of the world's 10 most overweight countries, eight are in the South Pacific.


Nauru is particularly bad, with almost all of its adult population bulging at the waistline.
The situation in the Federated States of Micronesia, Tonga and the Cook Islands is only slightly better.

According to the World Health Organisation, about 90% of men and women in these isolated corners of the Pacific are obese or overweight.

A change in diet and a lack of exercise are key factors, and Western junk food now has a firm grip on many communities.

A growing number of islanders relies on imported and fatty processed meals - cheap alternatives to fresh fruit and vegetables.

Experts are linking obesity to poverty. Cheap food is often high on calories but low on nutrition.

There can also be cultural barriers when it comes to encouraging people to lose weight, as some groups in the South Pacific believe that beauty is marked by a large physical size.

Obesity is based on body mass index ,which is a measure of weight relative to height. As well as the South Pacific, the United States and Kuwait are also on the unenviable list of the 10 most obese nations.

The WHO has estimated that globally there are 1.6bn overweight adults.

That figure is expected to increase by 40% over the next decade.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/health/6396111.stm

Published: 2007/02/26 06:03:11 GMT

[The_Professor]

This is probably a deliverate imperialisitic plot by President Bush. There are evidently secret hoards of WMDs there and once we fatte nthem up, and they then keel over from heart disease, we will come in and get the WMDs. Hey, we may not be able to stop Iran but we'll sure get Tongo!

[sirs]

This is probably a deliverate imperialisitic plot by President Bush...... we may not be able to stop Iran but we'll sure get Tongo!

No doubt       

[Lanya]

I heard a very interesting program on NPR while I was driving, so I didn't catch it all.  Gist of it is that various things are not a bug, they're a feature, or at least they used to be.

Something about Northern Europeans having high cholesterol protected them from low vitamin D, and having a gut was a way to protect from famine. 

[kimba1]

true
a rotund means vast body stores for long travel
but nowadays that aint a factor anymore
unless they still get seasonal famines.

[Lanya]

I found it---http://www.drshow.org   
11:00Sharon Moalem: "Survival of the Sickest" (William Morrow)

A look at why some diseases resist eradication and how they may have actually helped humans evolve.
Guests

Sharon Moalem, researcher and medical student at New York's Mount Sinai School of Medicine. He holds a Ph.D. in physiology, neurogenetics and evolutionary medicine.
http://www.wamu.org/programs/dr/07/02/26.php#12613

[Xavier_Onassis]

Polynesians evolved for thousands of years on islands where the food supply was limited in variety and protein. This may have a lot to do with it.  Also, there are personal dietary habits (notably binge eating at luaus and so forth) that may well be involved here.

When the Europeans arrived in Polynesia, they brought numerous diseases with them, which wiped out huge numbers of Polynesians. The genes of the survivors that caused them not to die of these diseases could be linked to a propensity for obesity.

On the plus side, some Polynesians (notably Samoans) have used their large stature and ability to become obese in such a manner as to become the best Sumo wrestlers in Japan. Nearly all the to Sumo titles these days belong to Samoans.

As a group, Sumo wrestlers rarely live past 60.
 

[kimba1]

wellll

longlife is not a sight superiority
as any vegetarian will use that excuse to justify their lifestlye.
it`s the ability to reproduce .
long life is just a perk.

[Xavier_Onassis]

longlife is not a sight superiority
as any vegetarian will use that excuse to justify their lifestlye.
it`s the ability to reproduce .
long life is just a perk.
==============================================
I fail to see what is wrong with longevity. I am all for immortality, personally.

To nature, success is measured in the number of offspring.

To the individual, I suggest that both the quality of life and longevity are much more important.

I think I would personally be a standard-issue Japanese salaryman and live to be 86 than to be a Sumo wrestler who keels over with a massive thud and is buried in a piano box at the age of 43.

But that is just me...