Vatican BMI is a carefully guarded secret. Damn them and their indomitable albino assassins, putting fear in to the hearts of anyone who dares ask, just how fat IS yo holiness' momma?
But that's true of many developing countries. (For instance, "you've gotten fat" is a compliment across South Asia, and diabetes / obesity is rising with processed foods.) So that may be a little piece of it, but for Oceania, I'd think it'd also be a matter of relatively small population + genetics + relatively low education + heavy use of high-fat imported processed food. (Spam, anyone?)
I'd guessed the Gulf States, but was surprised to see the non-Gulf, less wealthy countries from that general area on there too. And the Bahamas! With all the islands on the list, I'm thinking maybe surfing doesn't burn a lot of fat ...
According to Wikipedia, the reasons for obesity in the Pacific islands are:
A large part of the local diet consists of processed, high-calorie and imported foods, such as spam or corned beef, rather than fresh fish, fruits and vegetables, in part because the mining past has reduced the amount of arable land . Unhealthy foods are sold on the Pacific islands due to the region's relative poverty.
Relatively sedentary lifestyle, including among children.
Cultural factors, including:
History of poor public education on diets, exercise and health (micronutrient deficiencies are also common);
Banquets and parties continue to be a big part of life;
Imported foods have a higher social status than healthier local foods;
Historically, having a great body is associated with wealth, power and beauty.
High rates of obesity begin to appear 15 months after birth.
In Australia it is known. The men are often employed as security guards or bouncers. There is also a couple of clothing brands that have "Pacific-Islander" sizes.
It makes sense. Most of the people there now are descendants of people that trekked the ocean. The body needed for that type of travel needed to be extremely efficient. A lot of work, little food. Now that the work is less, the food is plentiful (doesn't hurt cheap food is the unhealthiest), and so their hyper efficient bodies pack on mass.
And also because it's one of the biggest countries in the world... More people will think of the USA than an island nation with just thousands of residents that some probably haven't even heard of.
Plus the pharmaceutical companies make a ton of money off of thermogenics, which are simple and cheap to make. They stand to make a sweet profit off of talking about how fat everybody is.
The combined population of the other top ten countries is less than many US states. It's good that people are aware of the USA's obesity problem as it often promotes itself as a role model for the rest of the world.
Having been to the USA many times, it's easy to understand why so many Americans are obese.
In the South pacific large is considered beautiful, but strong too. Rugby fans know that there are a lot of incredibly strong pacific islanders, so be careful who you're calling "fat".
Why would you try and deny a problem by stating that there are some pacific (micro)nations - where obesity equals status - that 'score' a tad bit higher.
If you compare 36,7% to European statistics (about 16%), or China (about 10%), no wonder "everybody" thinks of USA as a nation of overweight people.
+ USA is 3 letters, i guess about all people on this site try uk and usa in about every quiz
fyi: if you are interested: https://www.worldobesity.org/
Good point. But I wouldn't compare us to China when it comes to obesity. That rate would probably be higher if the average standard of living was on par with the American one. That's a big part of why the obesity level here is so high, although of course what you said also plays into it.
Hit a rich vein with Pacific Islands, then, when that ran dry, I tried a few stereotypical ones (US, Mexico) and then just started randomly trying wealthy western countries with little success. After that I tried sample nations in different parts of my world in an attempt to identify the clusters. I tried a few Middle Eastern ones and Caribbean ones, but apparently not the right ones.
Funny to see how fast and far the percentage guessed drops on this quiz. Makes sense. Most people's understanding of geography is centralized around the west.
Pacific Islanders have more efficient metabolisms. Great when the food is limited in amount and variety, no so great when exposed to high calorie diets.
Also the quality of the packaged foods is often poorer compare to the same product sold in New Zealand and Australia - the Spam in Samoa for example has a much higher fat content than the same product in NZ, even though the Samoan version is manufactured and shipped in from NZ.
I knew the Oceanic island nations were fat due to some reading but I still don't understand why they are. You would think their diet would be limited to the same sorts of foods that kept most Asian countries so thin. It is also strange that countries that are all about their beaches would not be working to look great in a bathing suit.
Besides the usual over eating and lack of exercise, the oceanic countries have higher obesity rates because of a naturally bigger build, lower metabolism rates (due to past seafarer long trips where they needed to conserve energy), introduction of processed foods from the west (coke is cheaper than water), lack of access to medical care and the natural tendency of when it is very hot to conserve energy and be sedentary. Even things like the fact that a fisherman can sell a fish for a price that would buy him a couple of processed meals and be cheaper than eating that fish.
Fiji may be the one country in that area that has banned the import of certain foods because they are so fattening. Mutton flaps (as gross as it sounds), for instance, were banned there about ten years ago but are still popular on the islands that made the list.
My interpretation of the list is that obesity is strongly correlated with living on a Pacific island, living near the Persian Gulf, or speaking English. I should probably brush up on my Spanish again.
Historically, populations on isolated islands were more at risk of famine and seasonal food shortages. The ability to store fat in one's body was a trait that ensured survival through lean times- natural selection. People with these genes put on weight more readily than others, even if they eat and exercise the same amount.
Tongans and Samoans have genetically greater bone density. The BMI standard used to determine obesity levels is based on Caucasian data, which is not appropriate for Polynesian populations, as there are genuine differences in body composition and fat distribution, so healthy weight ranges should be different. (International Journal of Obesity).
Tonga and Samoa would be near the top of this list regardless of the measuring system used. Both countries have acknowledged their severe obesity problem.
No...just no. This is so wrong. BMI literally gives a huge range. No human being has a bone density different enough to account for obesity. This is REALLY bad "fatlogic".
There are different ways to measure what constitutes being "overweight." That's my only guess. I've also seen lists with Mexico and other central American countries ranked prominently.
Weird how the only white majority of countries on this list are those that speak english... no European countries besides Uk and Ireland, and then the only other white countries in the world (NZ, USA, australia, canada) all make the list. very strange... I wonder what exactly the connection is there.
could be the greasy food that Anglo cultures seem to prefer in England especially but pretty much all over, the relative wealth and prosperity that came as a package deal with starting the Industrial Revolution, the fact that Americans invented fast food and then the concept spread more easily and readily to culturally similar Anglophone countries, or perhaps something genetic.
Perception is not reality. The US is always under a microscope, so its many flaws are often overstated. Yes, we have a lot of overweight people, ignorant people, religiously zealous people, and uneducated people....but other places have many more of those types of people than we do. It's just that those other countries don't have the same global influence, so they aren't discussed as much. USA gets so much grief because, among the major global players like Germany, France, the UK, Japan, etc., it has these problems in the largest numbers. Plus human nature is to belittle the person at the top of the totem pole. As long as the US is the biggest wielder of global influence, people will accentuate and overstate its failings.
USA is not #1 because there are some countries with very low populations that have a higher obesity rate. Statistically it is expected that the countries with very low populations will have lowest or highest rates of anything. The USA is a very diverse place in many ways, and I am sure there are areas with the same population as Nauru that have an even higher obesity rate than Nauru.
I don't think so. From what I could dig up, the fattest place in America is Wauchula, Florida, with an obesity rate of 41.8%, which edges out Kuwait but fails to reach the heights of any of the countries in Oceania on the list. It's not just that they have small populations, they're also remarkably (and pretty uniformly) fat.
and they used to be on the quiz judging from the comments. Not sure what changed. Maybe they switched from "overweight" to "obese" or something else like that.
I think that maybe this shows why the BMI standard should be discredited as it really cannot be applied internationally as claimed. It is laughable to think that both Polynesian and Asian body types should be judged by it.
High BMI is clearly a cause in severe diseases, and kills a lot of people. If you discard it, then what would you replace it with? How would doctors check if their patience have increased risk of early death?
It's an objective measurement and the best tool we have.
The countries in Oceania with high obesity all score very low in life expectancy, with mostly only poor underdeveloped African countries below them. Their obesity is a huge problem, and cause early death. To just dismiss it as "BMI should be discredited" is VERY irresponsible of you.
There is no better tool than BMI in order to address both public and private health risks due to obesity. So if you want to discard it, please inform me of what you would replace it with!!!!!
While coro maybe overstated the point, he's actually right that BMI is not the best way of measuring how fat or out of shape someone is. It's an overly simplistic formula and people with wider, squatter bodies will be labeled as obese more easily using it. It also doesn't factor in how much muscle mass your body has so champion body builders would be severely obese going by BMI. Better ways of measuring include looking at hip:waist ratio, air displacement of your total body mass (can figure out how dense you are), the skinfold thickness test (pinch some fat off your body), or a DEXA scan or other more technologically advanced ways of measuring your body fat %. BMI is *a* tool but it's far from the best and it does run in to some problems applied across many different body types.
That being said, Polynesians are obese and unhealthy and this is mostly the product of poor diet and little exercise, not just different body types.
As for the diet - I have not been to many Pacific islands before outside of the Philippines (and the Filipino diet consists of a lot of rice, a lot of fried stuff, and a lot of fast food), but my friends who have worked or built residences in places like Samoa, Guam, and the Marshall Islands tell me that they eat a ton of SPAM and other fatty processed canned foods.
You kidding? Bland spaghetti? Go to Jollibee, order spaghetti, and you'll get a heart attack from all the sugar. The rest is pretty accurate, but don't forget the pork and beef included.
I was thinking of Jollibee specifically. The spaghetti sauce they use is basically ketchup. No texture. No flavor. No herbs or spices. And then many other fast food chains have copied that. It's sub-Chef-Boyardee quality spaghetti. Just awful. But their spicy fried chicken is alright.
USA guessed 100% of the time. Next highest? 53% for Samoa which starts a chain of naming Pacific island nations.
I'm reminded of Top Gear where they have the non-speaking, face-shielded, character The Stig. When they came to the U.S. he walks out of his dressing trailer and his trademark white race car driver's jump suit cuts a typical fat bellied American profile.
The highest western European country is the UK at 28%. This is very high, but the USA is at a whopping 36%.
Not sure why Quizmaster felt the need to call out "western Europe" when Australia, New Zealand, much of the middle east, Hungary, Czechia, Uruguay, Argentina, Libya are all higher than "western Europe".
I think that there would be many other countries on this listing if they could afford more decent food. Another list could be countries that have a high percentage of undernourished citizens.
Why would it be surprising? It's obviously the natural place to start guessing on this topic once you've got the US. Even if you haven't personally met any Pacific islanders, you'll have noticed when watching rugby (and American football).
The peoples of the Pacific tended to eat large meals throughout the day because they did everything by hand. Now that it's all industrialized, they're just doing the eating because that was the culture: big families, and big meals.
Oceania countries and Middle Eastern countries are dominating the list. Oh! and also the country people talk about the most as obese, USA and also The Bahamas meaning two of the richest countries surrounding the Caribbean Sea. Knew most Arabian countries are fat because of so much money except Syria, Iraq and Yemen. But how can countries that are poor (Oceanic countries) are so fat? Answer is they were once very rich like Nauru since it sold phosphate from phosphate mineral deposits on the island but when they got lower and lower, they became poor people from nobles. Anyways quiz is very good.
It has more to do with diet and lifestyle than wealth these days. You don't really need to be wealthy to be obese anymore. Low-quality, high-calorie processed food is often the cheapest stuff available, depending on where you live.
I'd guessed the Gulf States, but was surprised to see the non-Gulf, less wealthy countries from that general area on there too. And the Bahamas! With all the islands on the list, I'm thinking maybe surfing doesn't burn a lot of fat ...
According to Wikipedia, the reasons for obesity in the Pacific islands are:
A large part of the local diet consists of processed, high-calorie and imported foods, such as spam or corned beef, rather than fresh fish, fruits and vegetables, in part because the mining past has reduced the amount of arable land . Unhealthy foods are sold on the Pacific islands due to the region's relative poverty.
Relatively sedentary lifestyle, including among children.
Cultural factors, including:
History of poor public education on diets, exercise and health (micronutrient deficiencies are also common);
Banquets and parties continue to be a big part of life;
Imported foods have a higher social status than healthier local foods;
Historically, having a great body is associated with wealth, power and beauty.
High rates of obesity begin to appear 15 months after birth.
didnt knew id got 16 likes on a comment that dates on my most obscure moments of a JetPunker smhHaving been to the USA many times, it's easy to understand why so many Americans are obese.
In the South pacific large is considered beautiful, but strong too. Rugby fans know that there are a lot of incredibly strong pacific islanders, so be careful who you're calling "fat".
If you compare 36,7% to European statistics (about 16%), or China (about 10%), no wonder "everybody" thinks of USA as a nation of overweight people.
+ USA is 3 letters, i guess about all people on this site try uk and usa in about every quiz
fyi: if you are interested: https://www.worldobesity.org/
Millions of fatties!
https://news.brown.edu/articles/2016/07/samoagene
It's an objective measurement and the best tool we have.
The countries in Oceania with high obesity all score very low in life expectancy, with mostly only poor underdeveloped African countries below them. Their obesity is a huge problem, and cause early death. To just dismiss it as "BMI should be discredited" is VERY irresponsible of you.
There is no better tool than BMI in order to address both public and private health risks due to obesity. So if you want to discard it, please inform me of what you would replace it with!!!!!
That being said, Polynesians are obese and unhealthy and this is mostly the product of poor diet and little exercise, not just different body types.
As for the diet - I have not been to many Pacific islands before outside of the Philippines (and the Filipino diet consists of a lot of rice, a lot of fried stuff, and a lot of fast food), but my friends who have worked or built residences in places like Samoa, Guam, and the Marshall Islands tell me that they eat a ton of SPAM and other fatty processed canned foods.
I'm reminded of Top Gear where they have the non-speaking, face-shielded, character The Stig. When they came to the U.S. he walks out of his dressing trailer and his trademark white race car driver's jump suit cuts a typical fat bellied American profile.
Not sure why Quizmaster felt the need to call out "western Europe" when Australia, New Zealand, much of the middle east, Hungary, Czechia, Uruguay, Argentina, Libya are all higher than "western Europe".