Why is America Fat?

For the last decade, the U.S. has received criticism due to its overweight population. Although many people, Americans and non-Americans alike, claim that the obesity rate is due to the lazy American population, new findings may say otherwise. There are two countries currently beating America, American Samoa and Kiribati along with many other countries rapidly climbing the obesity ladder. Many factors contribute to obesity, all of which deal with lifestyle. Understanding the obesity issue in the U.S. can better be understood by studying countries that were once considered not obese which are now in the top ranks.

The dramatic increase in obesity can directly be blamed on industrialization and globalization. When studying countries such as Croatia or American Samoa, patterns supporting industrialization and globalization as factors in obesity arise. Both countries have abandoned their traditional foods for processed foods made in the U.S. and Europe as well as diverging from agricultural labor. The American Samoa stands out from the Pacific Islands due to it’s staggering 93.5% population of overweight people. The fact that the American Samoa is the only country in the area with easy access to processed foods made in the U.S. is not merely a coincidence. Industrialized countries such as the ones in western Europe also suffer from high obesity rates.

The World Health Organization concludes that countries with more wealth and more industrialized tend have a higher obese population than less developed countries such as most African nations. Industrialized countries generally have more wealth and the wealth of the nation allows for more spending on luxury items such as excess foods and quicker, less labor intensive transportation. A more developed nation also has more access to higher technologies such as processing foods to increase the convenience level of daily eating. Although countries less developed should be completely safe from the obesity crisis, many that have access to developed nations’ goods suffer from second hand obesity due to the import of the processed foods.

As of January 2011, the only region safe from a highly overweight population is Africa. Therefore, the common accusation in regards to Americans being lazier than the rest of the world is not true. The western world reached a higher level of industrialization quicker than the rest of the world has. Although nothing to blush about, America’s obesity levels are directly correlated with its success as an industrialized country. Americans are not fat when compared to the rest of the industrialized world, just healthy.


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