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Go Home Who Says That Obesity Affects Only The Poor?

THE SPINE APRIL 27, 2010

Who Says That Obesity Affects Only The Poor?

BY MARTIN PERETZ

Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, and Saudi Arabia are very rich. According to a New York Times article this morning by Michael Slackman, the first of these boasts the second highest per capita gross domestic product in the world. It has a population of 1.6 million, with only 250,000 native Qataris. That means citizens.

These Qataris rank “sixth globally for prevalence of obesity and has the highest rate of obesity among boys in the Middle East and North African region.” They will win no soccer cups. “A recent article in the Qatari newspaper Al Watan said that local health experts that, within five years, 73 percent of Qatari women and 69 percent of the men would qualify as obese.” And since obesity often leads to diabetes, Qatar also ranks fifth globally in terms of the proportion of people aged 20 to 79 with diabetes.

The Times writes that the four other countries following Qatar “all share similar struggles.”

What causes this obesity epidemic? I suppose wealth and eating. The article is accompanied by a photograph showing three men (only one of them fat) wearing white headgear and robes. They looked like they were eating Big Mac and fries.

Qatar also ranks “16th globally for the incidence of birth defects per 1000 live births ... Saudi Arabia ranked second globally.” This is no attributable to fast food. It is attributed to consanguineous marriages.

Don’t envy these folk.

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"Body by MacDonalds" is actually a global phenomenon. Outside the northern European cultures, being plump is a sign of success. consider the popularity of butt-implants (for women) in Italy...

- K2K

April 27, 2010 at 1:18pm

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Well, according to the WHO, the United States ranks first in the world in the prevalence of obesity, and is projected to still be the most obese nation on earth in 2015. We will also win no soccer cups. Though in our case it will be because of chronically biased FIFA refereeing, not because our children are too fat.

- rhubarbs

April 27, 2010 at 1:34pm

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"Don’t envy these folk." Er . . . right. Never have. Don't now. Don't plan to.

- ironyroad

April 27, 2010 at 1:39pm

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I dunno Irony, you haven't seen some of my cousins. I'm kidding, while they are all very pretty I have no desire to marry any of them, in fact since I married a Chinese woman I went about as far from the genetic trail as I could. Nature loves diversity. Or as Bullworth said: everyone should fuck everybody. And being one of the male of the 250,000 must have its advantages. No work, a few wives and many mistresses. I could envy that, even if I had to go through the fiction of bowing towards Mecca 5 times a day.

- blackton

April 27, 2010 at 2:05pm

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rhubarbs writes: -- Though in our case it will be because of chronically biased FIFA refereeing I don't know about that. I think it is pretty well understood that FIFA is desperate to have the US win the World Cup because it would aid its goal of getting soccer to be a mainstream televised sport in the US where it is already mainstream at the participatory level.

- ndmackenzie

April 27, 2010 at 3:16pm

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ndmac, methinks you have not watched many international matches involving the U.S. men. Take the 2002 World Cup quarters against Germany, when the refs didn't call a blatant handball by a German defender that should have resulted in a penalty kick to the USA. Give USA that PK, and they probably win the match. Then they'd have faced South Korea in the semis, which amounts to an automatic ticket to the World Cup final match against Brazil - which is to say, television gold in America. Not that I hold grudges or anything!

- rhubarbs

April 27, 2010 at 3:59pm

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Yes, wealth causes the obesity. Just like it does here. That's why all the poor Americans are so svelte, eating their arugula salads, while the wealthy eat their fries and big macs. But, yeah, Chapter 83 in the the Peretz opus "How Arabs Are Awful In Every Way"

- miceelf

April 27, 2010 at 3:59pm

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rhubarbs - You are right that I haven't seen many matches involving the US or anyone else for that matter - although the last soccer game I attended was a pre World Cup friendly which a not particularly inspired US team won. I have watched enough games and understand the dynamic well enough to know that in a knockout competition - particularly, in its later stages - one should never say: -- Then they'd have faced South Korea in the semis, which amounts to an automatic ticket The golden rule of soccer is that in a one-off game anything can happen on the day. Who, for example, would have put money on Liverpool winning the 2005 Chamions League Final when they were 3-0 down at half time.

- ndmackenzie

April 27, 2010 at 4:31pm

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ndmac: You're right that FIFA wants to bring in the US, for all the money it would bring in; but the fact remains that most football players outside the US can't imagine that this country of 330 million could produce a sound football team, and what is more, that they should not, because after all it is not the game of American. (It does not help that American officials keep pushing for the rules to change to fit 1) American desire for goals and more goals (as in, 6 points for a touch-down ... why not just one?), and 2) American desire for commercial breaks.) And so whatever the official FIFA rule or desire, I think that the referees, reflecting their origins, simply cannot imagine Team US advancing and succeeding in international football, and they try to make sure it does not.

- icarusr

April 28, 2010 at 1:27pm

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-- but the fact remains that most football players outside the US can't imagine that this country of 330 million could produce a sound football team, I don't think this is right. I suspect other countries are worried that when the US finally gets its soccer act together no one else will be able to win the World Cup - just because of statistics. A European country pretty much needs one world class - and I mean genuinely world class - to reach the World Cup finals. A small European country might have one now and again and qualify occasionally. A large European might always have one or two world class players and make the late stages or even win. The US has almost four times as many players as the largest country in Europe and is likely sooner rather than later to pop up the requisite number of world class players to wind - and continue to win - the World Cup. -- It does not help that American officials keep pushing for the rules to change to fit 1) American desire for goals and more goals (as in, 6 points for a touch-down ... why not just one? A few years ago I listened on the web to a EUFA Cup quarter final. The final five minutes were five minutes of torture as "my" team held on desperately for an improbable result. Later that day I watched the final 30 seconds of a basketball game in which all suspense was destroyed by two separate advertising breaks interrupting 30 seconds of play. TV coverage of sport in America has destroyed sport.

- ndmackenzie

April 28, 2010 at 2:31pm

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