I remember going to Disney World when I was 10 and my brother was 6. It was his birthday present. I was so excited and I happened to enjoy it’s a smal world and went on it several times.

I am exciteldy looking forward to my next trip there in April with my 7 year old son. I have been to theme park in Ontario, PEI and the states and after being to wonderland and busch gardens lineups i expect them to be the norm because the parks are popular and magical for children. If you don’t like waiting in lines and crowds then obviously these are not the palces for you to be. Let’s think about the children and how much fun it is for them. It is supposed to be the happiest place on earth, but is not for everybody apparently.

I used the verb concentrate to mean “make thicker or stronger”. I should have used a different verb. English is not my native language. My intention was saying that most foreign countries do not have an incidence of obesity as high as the US. Please let me be the interpreter of my own words. If you read my first post in this discussion, you will see my point.

For Frank Hagan: I see your point. But my interpretation of the data was correct. I’ve read the original IBGE research, which is written in Portuguese. The overweight category includes obese citizens. The site address is http://www.ibge.gov.br.

Petronio

What’s interesting is that some longevity studies have shown that being in a normal BMI range of 18.8 – 24.9 may not be the healthiest place to be; if you are “overweight”, you have a 17% reduced risk of death, and even being “obese” is statistically insignificant from being “normal”. This may have more to do with the limitations of the BMI as a gauge of health, but it is interesting (I link the studies at http://www.lowcarbage.com/?p=89).

Petronio, the comment you made is still listed. What you said was:

“Yet, the obesity problem is heavily concentrated in the US. Why?”

That is what I disagreed with, because you are wrong, as in: wrong, flat out, mistaken, wrong.

The obesity problem is NOT heavily concentrated in the US. It’s a worldwide phenomenon. It’s a disease of so-called civilization.

You can’t make a statement and then say you didn’t make the statement when what you said is recorded in black and white.

I mentioned the obesity epidemic hitting Brazil because someone mentioned Brazil. Of course Brazilians aren’t yet as fat as Americans. But they will be. And the pattern is exactly the same as the US: heavily concentrated in the poorer segments of the population, and correlated with race.

“I noticed that most Americans are more athletic than Brazilians. I was very impressed with the way American college girls volunteered to play soccer. Brazilian women won’t do it even if we beg. I had the impression that most Americans try hard to stay in shape. So there’s got to be a reason for the higher incidence of obesity in the US.”

Look, I don’t have the time to point out all the illogic in this paragraph and the faulty reasoning based on limited data.

As a grad student, you are observing a tiny privileged subset of Americans. The American college girls who volunteer to play soccer are an elite group. They are already thin. Most Americans do not try hard to stay in shape but in any case exercise is mostly irrelevant to the obesity epidemic, which is caused by insulin resistance, which is caused by lifelong overconsumption of refined carbs, and eating too little fat and protein.

I did not say obesity was a US phenomenon. What I said was that most foreign countries do not have an incidence of obesity as high as the US. This is not a new observation. I’ve read it in every other diet book published in the US in the last five years.

The NY Times article about Brazilian obesity (whose link is in your post) states that: “40 percent of Brazil’s adult population is overweight. Over all, 1 adult in 10, or more than 10 million people, are obese…”. Let’s do the math. The NY Times article is saying that 60% of Brazilian adults are not overweight and only 10% are obese.

American incidence of obesity is a lot higher. According to a recent report “adult obesity rates in the US now surpass 25 percent in 31 states and exceed 20 percent in 49 states and Washington, D.C.”

I’ve lived a few years in the US as a graduate student. I noticed that most Americans are more athletic than Brazilians. I was very impressed with the way American college girls volunteered to play soccer. Brazilian women won’t do it even if we beg. I had the impression that most Americans try hard to stay in shape. So there’s got to be a reason for the higher incidence of obesity in the US.

I am inclined to agree with Mary’s observation. HFCS, being so sweet, might have “desensitized your taste buds thus calling for ever more sweetness just to stay even, like a drug addiction”. I noticed that Dr. Eades is very interested in HFCS. I hope he will include a chapter about it in one of his books.

A also think Amina has a point. Foreigners don’t take the lowfat teology as seriously as the Americans. But, unfortunately, most countries are trying to follow the American steps. This afternoon, when I went to the supermarket to buy cottage cheese, I noticed that two of the three brands had 0% fat. I hate lowfat food; but I belong to a shrinking minority in my country.

Petronio

Brazil:

“http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/13/world/americas/13iht-brazil.html

“Yet a controversial government study released late last month confirms it: Brazil is experiencing an epidemic of obesity.”

Huzzah, the article mentions sugar & carbs as culprits.

http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1890260,00.html

This being Time it contains the usual journalistic claptrap:

”

Greece:

http://www.nature.com/oby/journal/vaop/ncurrent/abs/oby2009188a.html

“The presented population-based data revealed that the prevalence of overweight and obesity among 8- to 9-year-old Greek children is alarmingly elevated, with the overweight rates rising continuously.”

Forgive me for sounding a bit peeved, but what you are BOTH saying is total nonsense.

The metabolic disorders epidemic (which includes obesity) is a worldwide phenomenon. Just because you happened not to see it once in an affluent part of Ottawa is totally meaningless.

Here are some stats:

http://www.parl.gc.ca/information/library/prbpubs/prb0511-e.htm

“In 2004, approximately 6.8 million Canadian adults ages 20 to 64 were overweight, and an additional 4.5 million were obese.(1) ”

Let’s not even talk about UK. OK, let’s talk about the UK:

http://www.iotf.org/oonet/uk.htm

“Latest obesity rates (2001 figures) show 21% of men and 23.5% of women over 16 years have a Body Mass Index of 30 or more in England. These figures compare with 13/2% of men and 16.4% of women in 1993 and just 6% among men and 8% among women just 20 years ago.”

Australia:
http://www.aph.gov.au/library/INTGUIDE/sp/obesity.htm

* overall 32.6% of adults were reported as overweight in 2004–05
* 40.5% of males and 24.9% of females were overweight
* overall 16.4% of adults were reported as obese in 2004–05
* 17.8% of males and 15.1% of females were obese.

I rest my case.

THIS IS NOT A US PHENOMENON, so get off your high horse and face facts.

Regarding sweetness of desserts, clearly you’ve never been to France or Greece, where desserts are intensely sweet. The thing is, portions are tiny and dessert is not an everyday thing but something you indulge in on special occasions.

They should indeed. Good idea.

I’ve often wondered if , because the HFC was so much cheaper, the food industry added more ‘sweet’ to increase sales and in so doing desensitized our tastebuds thus calling for ever more sweetness just to stay even. Like a drug addiction.

Has anybody ever been able to do a study comparing formulations through the years? I remember once in the 80′s having my first Hershey bar in several years (this was before my low carb days ) and thought it was disgustingly sweet – nothing like I was expecting.

mc

Fructose is much sweeter than both regular table sugar (which is half fructose) and glucose. Adding the same amount of fructose or HFCS to recipes calling for a given amount of sugar is going to make the products sweeter. Increasing sweetness does tend to blunt the sweet receptors making them require more sweetener for a given sweet effect.