284 Diet and Health
risk from premature death and disability as a consequence of overweight and obes-
ity.^53 Men are at risk who have a waist measurement greater than 40 inches (102cm);
women are at risk who have a waist measurement greater than 35 inches (88cm).
Whilst height is obviously also taken into consideration, we should regard these
measurements as key health benchmarks.
Figure 13.9 shows how, in a remarkably short time, the rate of obesity within
countries is rising. In the UK, for instance, between 1980 and 2000, obesity tre-
bled from 7 per cent of the population to 21 per cent.^54 Particularly alarming is
that the ‘North Americanization’ of obesity is spreading down Latin America.^55
Figure 13.10 illustrates the level of obesity in comparison to underweight in devel-
oped and developing countries. In many countries, levels of obesity are double
what they were 15 years ago.^56 In Peru, Tunisia, Colombia, Brazil, Costa Rica,
Cuba, Chile, Mexico and Ghana, for example, overweight adults outnumber those
who are thin. Even Ethiopia and India, traditionally beset by under-nutrition^57
and starvation now have the added burden of an emerging obesity problem. The
trend to obesity is occurring in countries with different economic profiles, from
the Asian ‘Tiger’ economies to the oil-rich Middle East.^58
Rising obesity rates among children are particularly troubling to health profes-
sionals, as this trend suggests massive problems of degenerative disease for the future.
In Jamaica and Chile, for instance, one in ten children is obese; in Japan, a country
historically with a very low incidence of fat in its diet and with a low incidence of
Source: OECD Health Data 2002, available at http://www.oecd.org/pdf/M00031000/M00031130.pdf
Figure 13.9 Obesity in adult population across OECD countries