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No real surprises here in terms of the obesity chart, the US claiming top spot - with almost a third of US citizens in the obese category. Japan and Korea recording the lowest levels of obesity, again to be expected.
What is interesting though is what is known as the 'French Paradox'. They defy convention of what most in the West consider a healthy diet (i.e. low fat).
The French consume a high level of saturated fats (found in cheese, milk, etc) in comparison to most other Western countries. But they have much lower levels of obesity and of the associated ills such as diabetes and coronary heart disease.
What makes sense to me is that a healthy attitude to fat, less processed foods and smaller portion sizes are all contributory factors in avoiding obesity (even before you consider activity levels).
The study uses BMI (Body Mass Index) as the calculation for determining the amount of body fat in the body. The formula is a person's weight divided by their height squared. For example if your height is 1.92 metres, and your weight is 90kg. The calculation would be 90/(1.92*1.92) = 23.44.
A BMI of 25 or above is generally classified as overweight, a BMI of 30 or above indicates obesity. There are many reasons why this could be inaccurate as the BMI stats do not differentiate between muscle mass, fat mass or body shape. So for example a healthy athlete with a muscular build, could be classified as overweight or even obese based on the formula above.
It is worthwhile stating though that even though this is not the best method it is a very quick and non-intrusive guide especially when investigating larger populations. For more accuracy other tests should be considered, using calipers or bioelectrical impedence machines but there is no doubt obesity is on the increase in recent times.