| Obesity Takes Another Hit: Now an Environmental Threat |
| Monday, 27 April 2009 21:25 | |||
 Everywhere, April 2009 – Maintaining a healthy body weight is good news for the environment, according to a study in the International Journal of Epidemiology.
Because food production is a major contributor to global warming, a lean population, like Vietnam's, will consume almost 20 percent less food and produce fewer greenhouse gases than a population in which 40 percent of people are obese, according to the study by researchers at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. In nearly every country in the world, average body mass index (BMI) is rising. Between 1994 and 2004 the average male BMI in England increased from 26 to 27.3, with the average female BMI rising from 25.8 to 26.9 (about 3 kilograms heavier, or approximately 6.5 pounds). "When it comes to food consumption, moving about in a heavy body is like driving around in a gas guzzler," said the report's authors. "The heavier our bodies become the harder and more unpleasant it is to move about in them and the more dependent we become on our cars. Staying slim is good for health and for the environment. We need to be doing a lot more to reverse the global trend towards fatness, and recognize it as a key factor in the battle to reduce emissions and slow climate change." Transport-related emissions will also be lower because it takes less energy to transport slim people, the study said. Researchers estimate a lean population of 1 billion people would emit 1billion tons less carbon dioxide equivalents per year compared with a fat population. SOURCE: Sustainable Food News (Visual courtesy loseweight.com)
|
