What causes the rise in Globesity?

I an not suprised about this. As any county gets richer it will happen sooner or latter. Yes the world is growing smaller and China is no exceptiom.

Probably have alot of MC Donalds over there!

It bothers me how expensive the healthier foods tend to be, such as fresh produce, yet a lot of junk food is relatively cheap. I think this is one of the reasons so many are having weight problems...plus the fact that much of the food we buy processed. I also wonder about the hormones that are fed to such a large portion of the livestock that are used for human consumption. What kind of affect must that be having on our systems? It just doesn't seem to be healthy at all, not to mention I don't care for the atrocious conditions under which many farm animals are raised...but that's for another discussion, LOL. But another thing to factor in is that people are becoming less and less physically active. Life is often centered around the computer, television, the car and the couch for so many people.

fast food is moving its way more overseas and becoming more of a global thing. western diets are making their way to other countries due to fast food. if you ever watch a documentry called supersize me about a guy who decides to eat nothing but mcdonalds food for a whole month. he tells how he feels through the month just eatting fast food. there is clearly some obvious signs he didn't feel before going on a mcdonalds month long food fest. the details of how he feels are not good and really i think i've felt the way he has because i eat fast food. the thing the makes how he feels more believable is he didn't eat fast food before starting the documentry. than again this guy made himself sick eatting so much of the same food and nothing else. one thing i will say about how he feels is he says he has to eat sooner than usual when eatting during the documentry or else he gets tired and gets massive headaches. its like they put stuff in the fast food to make it more addicting.

As an American, I have to say I blame U.S. made products for most of the world's obesity. McDonald's, Coke, Pepsi and the like. Pre-packaged foods vs. cooking naturally. All the chemicals and preservatives. I suggest taking a look at the documentary "Food, Inc." (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1286537/) China is one of the last markets that U.S. companies have spread to and gives further evidence to me that we are the culprits in the rise of "globesity". Our bodies are just not designed to process all the genetically modified foods being produced these days. There's an interview in "Food, Inc." with a family of 4 in the States. They talk about the fact that it's cheaper for them to go to some fast food place than to buy fresh vegetables. It's sad and sickening. The world is slowly being Americanized and not in a good way at all.

In this day and age, the cause for obesity is simply the way we run our society. I mean, back in the old days, people had to hunt animals for food but today we have everything nice and ready for us. Back then, we had to exercise to find food; we had to exercise to live. People did not get very fat this way because they always were on the move, they had to be fit. Most jobs today involve sitting down somewhere or not moving much. So, to live we have to sit down, and people get fat from sitting down and living. It is bad especially because of the way we get food. Fast food is convenient but it is very unhealthy, now the food makes people fat and most don't get rid of this fat because their jobs don't include much exercising. Now people can be obese and be successful because they don't have to hunt food anymore; they just need to walk into a shop and buy things. Obesity is spreading, and now this means that there really is something wrong with the way things are done here. Correct me if I'm wrong, but there were not as many fat people back then. Sure, there were some, but today it is getting out of control. . .

I believe that we have had too many convenience foods marketed to us. Many foods come with little flavor or value, but are convenient and fast with little care put into their preparation. Traditional foods with traditional flavors are healthier, but not considered to be "modern" or progressive. Homemade bread, with lots of flavor is much more satisfying than what you can grab off the shelf in the grocers.

It is sad that a fast food chain from America has spread to many other countries in the world. It sells fries and burgers which are fatty foods. People tend to get less exercise now that each home has machines. In Victorian times people didn't have washing machines and tumble dryers. Some people have office jobs from 9 to 5 and then in the evening they sit down. He or she might drive a car to the office. People are not getting enough exercise. Many people eat fatty foods and things full of sugar. It is sad that China has now got that fast food chain.

I agree with what everyone has said here, and really don't have too much more to add. The discovery of all the fast foods has changed everyone's lives..don't want to cook?, just grab a Big Mac. Families use to do alot more together also when there was no tv. Now, people just plot themselves down for hours watching it. Picnics were something you did on Sundays because you didn't work years ago on that day. You would to the park, run around, play baseball, go hiking, visit friends. There was always movement of some sorts. Most work and jobs were physical labor. Not today. Shoveling snow was another physical movement, now it's all snowblowers or trucks with plows on them. The world has moved so fast from years ago with all the new technology, new modern machinery, and fast foods or just plain quicker foods to cook, that people have just become very lazy. And, with all the problems today with jobs, raising children, money, etc., so many are depressed, which in turn, you eat and gain more weight. Then you take a pill, and that pill puts on more weight. It's a vicious circle isn't it?

A lot of things have helped the rise in obesity. If you want to start at the beginning it would be the beginning of steel tools. In a tangent, it affects obesity. The beginning of steel tools had to do with the increase of population. With the increase of population, there are too many people in one area to grow and hunt their food all for themselves. Which is when they started using the practice of horticulture and agriculture. Having everything they need at their finger tips. Sure farming all of that was hard, put not until plows running on fuel were created. Before when humans had to work up to eight hours a day of hard manual work trying to gather food for the family, it now takes maybe an hour to go to the grocery store. And now a days, new technologies are being created to increase the ease of life and decreases our mobility. Instead of playing out side hours of the day, you will find them more inside on the computer, playing video games, and watching tv. Perhaps also the fact that it is harder to make enough money one one's pay check that forces both adults to work. Giving the children when they are home two adults that are too tired to watch the children outside. Instead they keep their children inside to play where it is easier to watch and less physical.

I just heard a great explanation of why this is happening. it goes back to the Cavemen and nature made man to react to stress by putting on belly fat. This was because stress in Caveman days often meant famine to follow. Needless to say nature has not caught up with modern living in which stress just means mental stress not physical stress so belly fat is not needed. It just grows larger and larger because famine never comes. Of course this only works for the more civilized societies.

Well obesity is simple a lifestyle disease.It depends on how you live basically what you eat and how much activities you engage in .In america these were the basic causes because most americans ate a lot of fast food which were very fatty.The liked burgers and Fried chicken and these food weer high in cholesterol.What compounded that situation is teh factthat they didnt excerise much .Many of these same americans were the ones who would lie around all day and order more fast food and didnt like to walk preferring to take their cars for even the shortest of rides. The same thing is now happeneing to china with their love of american food and even cars .Most of the newest billionaires are now coming from China and they have similarly imported the same lifestyle form americans of eating fast food and not excercising .

i am a chinese and i see the chinese are getting obesity step by step. i think it's because the economic development and the social development of china. for china is not a rich country even 20 years ago, people lived a very hardish life in the past. now they have more money that they can live better life, so more and more people are getting obesity.

I think that the cause in the rise of "globesity" is the change in the type of work that peopel do. If you think about it, it was only a little only a century ago when everyone in the world had to walk or ride i na horse carrige or buggy to get anywhere. If you think about it, it makes a ton of sense. Also, the typse of jobs that peopel do have changed incredibly. People went from blacksmiths and farmers to bankers, lawyers, and assembly line workers. They may work harder or just as hard as they used to, but they aren't getting their exercise on the job liek they used to. Now it is becoming something like a luxury almost. The people that have time to exercise and stay in shape are the ones who are lucky.

"Globesity"? What a word!

Television and its cousin computer. LOL. Well, more and more people are getting everything with computers so the physical work is virtually missing. I was quite slim for quite some time. After I learnt how to use Internet, I seem to have added about 10 kgs. But it may be due to age factor as well. :)