‘Globesity’: US junk food industry tips global scales

From Mexico to Qatar, obesity rates are soaring to unprecedented levels. The alarming trend is damaging economic performance, as well as the health of millions of consumers worldwide.

Take our increasingly sedentary lifestyles, mix in a generous portion of American fast-food and dubious agricultural practices, add a dash of corporate duplicity and you have a recipe for high obesity rates across the planet.

The newly released United Nations report on global nutrition does not make for very appetizing reading: Amid an already floundering global economy, the reality of a fattening planet is dragging down world productivity rates while increasing health insurance costs to the tune of $3.5 trillion dollars per year - or 5 percent of global gross domestic product (GDP).

31.8 percent of US adults are now considered clinically obese. This is a remarkable figure, especially considering that it is approximately double the US obesity rate registered in 1995, according to data from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention .

Read more: ‘Globesity’: US junk food industry tips global scales — RT USA

Obese People Should Be Charged For Additional Seats On Planes Says Poll

In the last EU-Digest Poll conducted from May thru June on the question "Should obese people be charged for additional seats on airplanes, buses and trains?" 77% of those polled said Yes and  23 % said No.

The new June -July EU-Digest Poll asks the question: "How do you rate your governments performance" and gives you 4 different options to answer that question.

EU-Digest

EU-Digest poll shows only 40% of people polled say royalty is still relevant in Europe

Dutch King Willem Alexander and Queen Maxima

The results of our latest EU-Digest Poll " Is Royalty still relevant in Europe" shows that only 40% of the people polled found it still is relevant

Ten percent said outright it was not. Twenty percent found it was too costly and should be abolished, while 30% said Royalty and Palaces should be transformed  into a "Disney-like theme park concept" and become self-sufficient.

This month's poll covers obesity and cost as it requests your input on the question:  "Should obese people be charged for an additional seat on Airplanes, Buses and Trains?

EU-Digest

US versus Europe: Super versus moderate

"Americans who have traveled to Europe will have noticed that there's a significant difference in portion sizes between our country and European countries. A college friend who moved to Germany as an exchange student back in the late Eighties wrote to say he was hungry for the first couple of weeks, because he was being served less than he was accustomed to -- but after that period of "initiation," he found that he was satisfied with the smaller proportions. There is something about the American psychology that craves bigness, and feels cheated in some way by smaller portions. I wonder if it has always been this way, or if this is something that we've gotten acculturated to by marketing over the past 30 or 40 years. I suspect it's mostly (but not entirely) the latter. As I've said before during discussions about liberal drug laws in the Netherlands, insofar as they work for the Dutch, it has a lot to do with the inner self-discipline the Dutch have as a characteristic of their residual Calvinist culture (they may not have the religion anymore, but they are much more self-controlled compared to us). You don't see all-you-can-eat buffets in Holland, which explains why that culture is better able to handle liberalized drug laws than we would be in America.

Note EU-Digest: Unfortunately Europe is also quickly joining the gluttons of this world, mainly as a result of advertising. Burger King in Europe noted they saw a considerable upswing in their sales when they started selling the heavily advertised "super burger".

Let's hope Europe won't reach the state the US is in. Maybe its time to include in advertisements for fast food, similar to what they do for tobacco and alcohol, that fast food can cause obesity, which can kill you?

Will it fly, probably not, because the food industry lobby will probably kill any action in that direction.

For more: Against supersized cocktails - Rod Dreher

Wired.com: Study Says Cars Make Us Fat and that Europeans walk more than Americans

For the complete report from Wired.com click on this link

Study Says Cars Make Us Fat and that Europeans walk more than Americans

"Countries with the highest levels of active transportation generally had the lowest obesity rates," David Bassett of the University of Tennessee and John Pucher of Rutgers University conclude in the study published in the Journal of Physical Activity and Health. "Walking and bicycling are far more common in European countries than in the United States, Australia, and Canada. Active transportation is inversely related to obesity in these countries." Overall, the study found, Europeans walk three times as far and cycle five times as far as Americans. Europeans walk an average of 237 miles each year and bike another 116 while their American counterparts walk 87 miles and bike 24. The extra exercise means Europeans burn five to nine pounds more than Americans do.

The Independent: The Netherlands: The Dutch restaurant that's really a laboratory - and the diners are the guinea pigs - by Claire Soares

For the complete report from the Independent.co.uk click on this link

The Netherlands - The Dutch restaurant that's really a laboratory - and the diners are the guinea pigs - by Claire Soares

Watching what you eat" has taken on a whole new meaning at the Restaurant of the Future. Although the university canteen in the Dutch town of Wageningen looks like an upmarket eatery – with its floor-to-ceiling windows, black marble worktops and minimalist fixtures and fittings – it is in fact a laboratory in disguise. Banks of hidden cameras zoom in on every morsel that enters diners' mouths, invisible scales built into the floor weigh you as you pay for your meal, and beware of that comfy-looking chair which could be monitoring your heartbeat as you chew. From the country that gave us Big Brother, comes a new scientific venture into human eating habits. Is food on square plates more appetising than those on circular ones? Will certain dishes be more popular when there is a warm reddish tone to the lighting than when the ambience takes on a colder, bluer hue? These are some of the questions that Dutch scientists will try to answer with their extensive menu of electronic wizardry. Rene Koster, the director of the restaurant's research team, said: "Before birth, a

New Europe: To the rescue in the fight against obesity

For the complete report from New Europe click on this link

To the rescue in the fight against obesity

The European Parliament has adopted, by a large majority, a report by MEP Frederique Ries of Belgium on the risks of obesity in Europe. She said that gave unambiguous support to the European Commission following the publication of the green paper on the prevention of excessive obesity.

The report praised the initiative by the Commission to launch a public consultation on the subject and “urges Member States to officially recognise obesity as an illness.” “It is certainly the surest way to avoid the stigmatisation of one section of the population in our society, and to ensure a reasonable assumption of responsibility by the national health care systems,” Ries underlined during her speech to the plenary.