4.7 What has caused the obesity epidemic?
There is said to be an obesity epidemic in the world and it certainly looks that way from the data (Figure 17).
Figure 19 Obesity statistics compared for 1980 and 2008
Activity 9 Why is obesity so common?
Timing: Allow approximately 10 minutes.
The Overseas Development Institute (ODI) is the UK’s leading independent think-tank on international development and humanitarian issues. It reported that the number of obese people in the developing world tripled between 1980 and 2008 and, in high-income countries, the number increased by 1.7 times in the same period.
- What are the causes for this?
- Why are we getting fatter?
Write two or three sentences in answer to these questions in the box below. Click ‘Save’ when you are satisfied with what you have written.
Interactive feature not available in single page view (see it in standard view).