Globesity: Fat's New Frontier
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Globesity: Fat's New Frontier

2012, Health  -   49 Comments
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Ratings: 8.53/10 from 146 users.

Globesity: Fat's New Frontier reveals the outrageous eruption of a worldwide corpulence in countries where not so long ago famine was number one health issue. In China the usage of sugar and oil has led to rapid enlargement of waistlines; in Brazil global food companies have basically changed the usual daily intakes of food and sent the national scales spinning.

In India it's anticipated that 100 million people will have diabetes in the near future and in Mexico, the largest consumer of carbonated beverage in the world, where diabetes is already a headline killer and where the weight problem is so acute, special programs have been made available offering free fitness classes and bariatric surgery. If you thought obesity was just an issue in the first world economies, like the US, UK and Australia, this documentary will set you straight.

The fatness of the world is changing in ways that will amaze and possibly even disturb you. In the recent past, in many of the world's impoverished corners, hunger was the main health concern. Assessments put the number of underweight at 700 million, and overweight - mainly in affluent countries - at 100 million. How the tables have turned.

In truth, no country has succeeded to eliminate the hunger without shifting to corpulence, very quickly. Among poor and developing countries, there's not a single one, from sub-Saharan Africa to South Africa to the Middle East to Asia and Latin America, which has regulated this difficulty.

By 2010 the number of underweight people had increased only slightly but the number of very overweight people had blown up to 500 million. It's estimated that by 2030 more than one billion will be fat. We have dumped the concern of obesity into the developing economies just at a time when the numbers were starting to level off. This is a global problem and every country on the planet should be worried about it.

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Lu
Lu
4 years ago

video keeps cutting out

Joan
Joan
8 years ago

The body turns every bite we eat into glucose. Glucose is the energy used by the muscles. The fiber rich carbs one eats turn to sugar. But so does all the protein we can use, the excess expelled in our urine. The fiber in whole foods fill us up and let us know when we are satiated, unlike animal foods which have no fiber, so we eat more. So don't blame sugar for the rise in obesity. All countries now eat more animal products, including cheese, than they ever did before. With all the animals now being factory farmed, they are fed GMO corn and soy, and fish meal, as well as massive doses of antibiotics to fatten them up quickly. Every bite of animal protein we eat, we take in all the things the animals have eaten, including those antibiotics. Don't you think we might be getting all the "benefits" of those fattening antibiotics?

robertvb
robertvb
9 years ago

Don't expect governments to do anything about this.
Brands like Coca Cola, Nestle, and Nabisco make the rules.
Besides, they've moved on...into the big emerging markets: Chine and India
North America has been tapped already.

Liberty
Liberty
9 years ago

I stopped watching this when it started talking about portion size. It's not how much you eat, IT'S WHAT YOU EAT. I could literally gorge myself on fruits grains and veggies and NEVER get fat. Why? Because the fat you eat is the fat you wear. If i don't eat things high in fat, then I will never get fat. Case and point.

bluetortilla
bluetortilla
9 years ago

"Let the buyer beware" indeed. How about "Let the buy be warned"? Or better yet, let the buyer be protected by a government obliged to do so in its sacred duty.

Shannon Gonzalez
Shannon Gonzalez
10 years ago

Something that came to my mind that was not discussed is the cultural implications of having one's family members obese. For example, when a mother's son is obese then there is proof that she is feeding him. When her husband is obese, there is the same proof. When the wife is obese, it is proof that the husband is paying for food, providing. In the US, if family members are obese, then it is a sign of "bad parenting" for feeding them too much!

Leslie Payne Simmons-Hale
Leslie Payne Simmons-Hale
10 years ago

It is not only food making everyone fat, it is electronics, inactivity, and computers.

John Summers
John Summers
10 years ago

Corn syrup has more energy in it than any natural food and is a fraction of the price, so those that can afford real food have no excuse to be fat, but those who are poor have no choice but to live on corn syrup just to fill themselves up regardless of the vitamin content so not only will they become super fat but ill with it as they are not getting enough of the right food which makes them eat more corn syrup.

Colleen Farrell
Colleen Farrell
10 years ago

Great documentary. I didn't realize obesity was becoming such a problem in developing countries.

mycial
mycial
10 years ago

"We will keep their lifespan short and their minds weak while pretending to do the opposite. We will use our knowledge of science and technology in subtle ways so they will never see what is happening. We will use soft metals, aging accelerators and sedatives in food and water, also in the air. They will be blanketed by poisons everywhere they turn. The secret convenient google it! This is why your species is over weight, your masters has studed you & gave you GMO foods chemtrails & fluoride in everything if you don't wake up from buying a product because it's shiny or has a cartoon drawing on it then we will gave you poisons & you will seek help & they will give you more poisions Take care! Do not reply to this comment.

LMairena
LMairena
10 years ago

It's a complex issue. But a lot of the problem is there isn't a choice. It's not like you have a choice between bad food and good food. Most of the food in a grocery store is not good for you (i.e., all that processed stuff in cans, for example). We actually have fewer and fewer choices in food as the high fat, high fructose, high sodium, highly processed foods win the lion's share of real estate in our grocery stores.

The other issue is access. The fattest states in the U.S. are also the poorest. There are people in Camden, New Jersey, who have never seen an apple let alone eat one. The corner groceries in inner cities cannot afford to buy, ship and stock their shelves with fresh produce.
Eating close to the source also takes time and education. People these days work an insane number of hours. In developing countries, it's even worse. Who has time to cook healthy meals? Pretty much the better off . . . those who don't have to work as much, have hired help, a stay-at-home wife or husband . . . the type of people who shop at Whole Foods.

As for education, how many people would know what to do with a bag of dried beans? Lentils? How many people know what a rutabaga is, let alone how to cook one? Schools cut home ec classes and there is no longer a "mother" at home to teach her children how to cook. The family dinner--a time honored ritual--is finished. Children eat at all hours, snacking throughout the day, eating whatever they want, because typically there are no parents at home to establish rules and boundaries around eating. Eating is like toilet training: It must be taught and learned.
Lastly, eating cannot be compared to other addictions like smoking or alcohol. People can stop smoking or drinking; but they cannot stop eating. It's an entirely different game. And it is a pleasure beyond anything imaginable. It's one of our very first pleasures in life and it lasts a lifetime. And think about eating if you're poor . . . when you don't have the means to do anything else, be anything else, go somewhere else . . . instead, you're stuck in poverty. Eating becomes probably the only pleasure in life you have--the only respite from otherwise hopeless existence.

henrymart81
henrymart81
10 years ago

Why do I care if other people get fat? Oh that's right, I don't.

RickRayFSM
RickRayFSM
10 years ago

It must be an alien conspiracy preparing the human race for the "CULL."

Aranyani
Aranyani
10 years ago

A study by the New England Journal of Medicine and reported in the NY Times "For the first time in two centuries, the current generation of children in America may have shorter life expectancies than their parents, according to a new report, which contends that the rapid rise in childhood obesity, if left unchecked, could shorten life spans by as much as five years."

The American Academy of Environmental Medicine was founded in 1965, and is an international association of physicians and other professionals interested in the clinical aspects of humans and their environment. The American Academy of Environmental Medicine is accredited to provide continuing medical education for physicians by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME), 515 N. State Street, Suite 1801, Chicago, IL 60654; Tel(312) 527-9200.
Go to their website for information on GMO's including a list of studies by 13 organizations including the World Health Organization.

steviecomment
steviecomment
10 years ago

Mexico. Even the guitars are obese.

Outsidethecage
Outsidethecage
10 years ago

Poor kids. Without clean water and real food they don't have a chance.

bringmeredwine
bringmeredwine
10 years ago

If the marketing of food products, and the over consumption of sugar and saturated fats is contributing to making people sick and obese; I'd say education and then an individual's willpower might be viable solutions to help curb this obesity rate, or slow it down.

Aranyani
Aranyani
10 years ago

GMO's were introduced in mid '90's. Documentary statistic: China had zero obesity in '90 and is now 1/3 of adults. GMO's are in all processed foods, animal feed and therefore all animal related food, and non-organic produce. "Several animal studies indicate serious health risks associated with GM food," including infertility, immune problems, accelerated aging, insulin regulation, and changes in major organs and the gastrointestinal system." American Academy of Environmental Medicine. Bottom line is global illness and premature death by Monsanto.