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OBESITY THE New WorLD EPIDEMIC OBESITY NEw WORLD THE EPIDEMIC Controlling obesity and weight gain Is not simply a matter of eating less and exercising more, but eating the right kinds of nutritious foods that are not compromised by modern agricultural methods and factory production processes. he American documentary film Super Size Me follows the experiment of one young man who wished to find out what would happen if he ate fast food every day for one whole month.' We watch as Morgan Spurlock records his experience of eating McDonald's food three times per day for 30 days. As the story unfolds, we learn more and more about the growing obesity problem in the United States.’ Meanwhile, we are treated to a thorough investigation of the resulting physical, mental and emotional effects of eating too much fast food. As we probably could have guessed, Spurlock gets sick and puts on weight very quickly. What is surprising is that he gets fatter and sicker than even his team of physicians could have anticipated. This experiment in diet raises the important question: is it really fast-food consumption that is causing the current dramatic rise in obesity? And what is it exactly about the fast food that makes it so unhealthy for us? Are there other factors involved? These are pertinent questions for all of us because obesity isn't just an American problem any longer. It is spreading out around the world at an increasing rate. The current estimate is that there are one billion overweight adults in the world, and 300 million of these individuals are clinically obese.’ In the United States alone, the number of obese people has doubled over the past 20 to 25 years. The current estimate is that 30% of the entire US population is clinically obese and 65% of the entire US population is overweight.’ Since one of the biggest exports from the Western world is American culture, it is no wonder that our habits—and our health problems—are quickly dispersing around the globe. In other countries such as Russia, Germany and the Czech Republic, the adult obesity rates are between 23% and 26%.*** In Australia, roughly 20% of the entire adult population is obese.* In the UK and Canada, the rate is closer to 15% of adults.° And the numbers keep growing because there has also been a tremendous increase in the numbers of overweight and obese children. It is estimated that 22 million children in the United States alone under the age of five years old are clinically obese. This number is twice as much as the number in 1980. The rate for adolescents is even more alarming because it has tripled since 1980, going from 5% of all teenagers up to 16% right now.” The World Health Organization is well aware of what it is now calling the "globesity" epidemic.* It tells us that the many serious chronic diseases associated with obesity are costing the world billions of dollars in health-care costs and lost work hours. Obesity is second only to smoking as a leading cause of preventable disease. Obesity is a major risk factor in arteriosclerosis, diabetes and cancer—the diseases of modern industrialised society. The risk of heart attack, stroke and depression—not to mention the numerous non-fatal conditions including joint degeneration and gastritis—is far greater in the obese. In the movie, we find that Spurlock clearly believes that the fast-food industry is the major contributor to this problem. He reiterates the current dogma about obesity, but we already know this story. First, he says we are eating way too much food, too many calories. Second, he says we are eating too much fat. Third, he states we are not exercising enough. We have heard these explanations over and over again. Are we just not getting it? Not trying hard enough? Or is the problem somewhere different? Here is a list of the beliefs we collectively hold concerning obesity: 1. Obesity is the result of over-eating, of eating too many calories. by David Zeoli, ND, LAc © June 2006 NEXUS = 27 The Dramatic Rise in Obesity and Related Diseases Email: dzeoli@yahoo.com AUGUST — SEPTEMBER 2006 www.nexusmagazine.com