Over one billion Earthlings are overweight, 300 million obese

The International Congress on Obesity meeting this weekend in Sydney, Australia warns that an obesity pandemic threatens to overwhelm health systems around the globe with illnesses such as diabetes and heart disease.

Paul Zimmet, chairman of the meeting of more than 2,500 experts and health officials, said in a speech, "This insidious, creeping pandemic of obesity is now engulfing the entire world. It's as big a threat as global warming and bird flu."

More than 1 billion adults are overweight and 300 million of them are obese, putting them at much higher risk of diabetes, heart problems, high blood pressure, stroke and some forms of cancer, according to the World Health Organizagtion.

Overweight people now outnumber the undernourished in the world, Zimmet said. I understand the point he is trying to make, but "overweight" does not equal "well nourished." People become overweight not by eating nourishing foods, but from eating too much of the wrong foods, and from lack of exercise.

People in poorer nations of Asia, Africa and Latin America are quickly learning the bad habits of those in the wealthier nations. Thailand's Public Health Ministry, for instance, announced Sunday that nearly one in three Thais over age 35 is at risk of obesity-related diseases.

"We are not dealing with a scientific or medical problem. We're dealing with an enormous economic problem that, it is already accepted, is going to overwhelm every medical system in the world," said Dr. Philip James, the British chairman of the International Obesity Task Force.

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