Good thread

Obesity and decrease of nutrition in diets worldwide is a serious issue. But it is a completely separate problem to all the other global problems etc environment, world poverty, aids etc. So i can't see the value of the author of the article trying to compare them.

When I was in USA for 2 months recently, that was the biggest thing I noticed. How fat the people were. In two ways

1)There were more obese people per capita on observation
2)The obese people were really obese. not 10-20 kilos overweight, more like 100 kilos overweight.

The sad thing is that this trend is catching worldwide. There is a wide range of reasons for this, I don't want to take this thread off topic by going into them.

The problem I see is that the government will try and take control of it. If you guys are getting upset over the smoking bans, wait until the thought police starting taking control of what we eat.

The strange thing is that if you look at it from a holistic angle, it is really absurd. The west is gorging itself to death while the third world is starving itself to death. It doesn't make sense 

Health minister faces two Indias, obese and hungry By  India plans to introduce yoga in schools to fight rising obesity among middle-class youngsters, even as the country continues to battle widespread malnutrition and "shameful" infant and maternal mortality.

Health minister Anbumani Ramadoss said the country faced a "galloping" rise in heart disease, diabetes and cancer as India's 300-million-strong and increasingly wealthy middle class ate more junk food and lived more sedentary lives.
At the other end of the spectrum, the country had some of the worst infant and maternal mortality rates in the world, he told medical experts at a workshop.
"We have one India which is galloping on the economic front ... while in the other India, human development indices say we are 126th in the world," Ramadoss said.
"We have on one side undernutrition and on the other side overnutrition," he said.
Ramadoss said health and lifestyle classes would be introduced in schools along with yoga to teach everything from nutrition to  AIDS awareness.
"Yoga can go along way in reducing such diseases as hypertension, diabetes," he added. "This should be made mandatory in all schools."
Health officials will meet education bureaucrats in coming weeks to outline a plan to introduce health as a subject in schools "as soon as possible."
India is the diabetes capital of the world with 37 million diabetics, many of them obese children, official statistics show. Unless action is taken, 80 million could be diabetic by 2030.
A private hospital in New Delhi recently conducted a study of 7-to-14-year-olds and found 23 percent were obese and 17 percent were hypertensive, and blamed junk food and lack of exercise.
"This is alarming, especially for their future health," said Dr. Anupam Sibal, group medical director of the Apollo hospital chain, which carried out the study. "Teaching them about good nutrition and exercise will be very welcome."
On the other side of the coin, India still experiences an under-one infant mortality rate of 56 per 1,000 live births, and an under-five mortality rate of 74, barely below Eritrea's 78 and more than double Indonesia's, U.N. figures show.
"I am ashamed," the health minister said. "We have the IT revolution ... but then we have this pitiful infant mortality."
Health officials say 70 percent of Indian women are anemic and 20 percent of adults are undernourished or suffer "from chronic energy deficiency."
"India is on its way on becoming a superpower, but unfortunately, 50-60 percent of children under three years are undernourished," Ramadoss said, adding the government aimed to better coordinate rural health programs.

Right, McDonald's is not that a dumb company and part of thier success was to adapt their restaurant model to local taste and culture.

In Europe we'v got enough of ecologists, activists, communists and other originals (José Bové) so that Mc Donald's had to react and rectify their image.

Here is an interresting article showing that there is this disparity inside a single country (thought a large one).

There are already healthier alternatives (not to mention basic exercize) and it irks me that people feel compelled to buy fast food cause it's cheaper/faster. I don't understand it.

Actually what is ironical, is that obesity is on the rise in 3rd world countries too. Obesity is soaring in places like Mexico or Egypt, for the simple reason that industrially produced fats and sugars are way more affordable than vegetables and quality proteins. In places like Mexico you can buy 10000 calories of trash food with the price of a kilo of fresh fruit. And you know the delirious bit?  Trash food is marketed as luxury products. People who consumes trash food in ads are handsome and wealthy, drive impressive cars, live in large homes... and advertise affordable trash food. A winner mix, and obesity goes hand by hand with child malnourishment not just int he same country.... even in the same family! Obese adults and malnourished children under a same roof, as child can't eat adult food -or eat it, which is even worst.

We live in a really weird world.

Ermmmmm.... maybe understanding isn't that hard.   Some people believe that cocaine is 'liberating' and 'individual choice'.   Some believe political broadcasts.....   Some believe that because americans in general are overweight/obese then that must be how to rule the world.