Almost half of Brazil's population is now overweight or obese

[hellheaven1987]

From 2006 to 2011, the proportion of Brazilians who were overweight went up from 42.7% to 48.5%.

The health ministry described the trend as "worrying", but said it was not a direct result of rising prosperity.

It highlighted major programmes to promote healthier eating and increased physical exercise, saying now was the time to confront the problem.

The study was based on 54,000 telephone interviews in all the country's state capitals as well as Brasilia.

It found that 52.6% of men and 44.7% of women were overweight.

The proportion of people with obesity increased from 11% in 2006 to 15.8% in 2011.

The health ministry said the consumption of high-fat food was a major cause, particularly among men.

But Health Minister Alexandre Padilha rejected the idea that the increase in the proportion of overweight people was linked to Brazil's rising prosperity.

"Eating habits have not changed much over the last six years, it wasn't in this period that people started consuming full-fat milk and fatty meat," he said.

Source

You may think obesity is the problem of developed country, but it seems even developing countries suffer that now.

[LSJ]

I find it strange how there can be so much obesity in Brazil when the majority of their population lives in what I'd consider slum conditions. So I'm wondering why that is.

[Claudius Gothicus]

I find it strange how there can be so much obesity in Brazil when the majority of their population lives in what I'd consider slum conditions. So I'm wondering why that is.

Poor people tend to lack:

-an education to ''know what they eat''.
-an amount of time in their jobs and houses that allows them to cook proper food and develop a balanced diet.
-an amount of wealth that allows them to access good food(proteins, vegetables, fruit etc.)

So, and as a general rule, Poor people rely on combinations of fast-food(every country has it's traditionally ''fast made'' and ''full of fats'' street food) and Carbo oriented diets. Accumulation of carbo tends to make one fat.

[atheniandp]

That's what the West likes to call "progress".

[Phier]

I'm disappointed. One of the constant factors in large meetings is if you see hot women at the meeting, they are from Brazil.

[Jaketh]

I'm disappointed. One of the constant factors in large meetings is if you see hot women at the meeting, they are from Brazil.

the 51% of non obese Brazilians are the women of course

[LSJ]

the 51% of non obese Brazilians are the women of course

It depends on where you are. If you are a tourist on a beach, those skinny Brazilian women with hairless legs are wealthier locals who actually have time to spare on such leisurely activities. The tourist beaches are either isolated resorts or by the highly developed and affluent seaside of major cities like Rio.

If you were to drive through Rio, and I mean all the way from seaside skyscrapers to the favelas, you would leave with a very different opinion. The country isn't so developed, and the women aren't all runway models.

[Copperknickers II]

I find it strange how there can be so much obesity in Brazil when the majority of their population lives in what I'd consider slum conditions. So I'm wondering why that is.

And you think everyone in slums are starving? In Africa and parts of India maybe, but in China, Latin America and the Muslim world, there is generally speaking enough food to go around for people with an actual household, even if in some of the more established shantytowns. The problem is their lifestyle: when people coming in from the countryside move to a lifestyle where they have much shorter distances to cover, small neighbourhoods they barely ever leave, and all the conveniences of urban life, it tends to lead to obesity, when combined with other factors of course, like diet and genetics.

[LSJ]

And you think everyone in slums are starving? In Africa and parts of India maybe, but in China, Latin America and the Muslim world, there is generally speaking enough food to go around for people with an actual household, even if in some of the more established shantytowns. The problem is their lifestyle: when people coming in from the countryside move to a lifestyle where they have much shorter distances to cover, small neighbourhoods they barely ever leave, and all the conveniences of urban life, it tends to lead to obesity, when combined with other factors of course, like diet and genetics.

No, my question was not because of a lack of food. It's that in poor communities in Latin America most of the jobs involve manual labour, like farming, fishing, warehouse labour, carpentry, and logging. I don't know what kind of jobs are most prevalent in Brazil, but usually those kinds of jobs don't encourage obesity.

[flota]

No, my question was not because of a lack of food. It's that in poor communities in Latin America most of the jobs involve manual labour, like farming, fishing, warehouse labour, carpentry, and logging. I don't know what kind of jobs are most prevalent in Brazil, but usually those kinds of jobs don't encourage obesity.

because its poor people, after work they return home they eat and drink beer to the end.

here in mexico we got the same problem, sure as hell 50% of the population is poor, but we also got number one country with overweight problems.
I know it isnt just the poor, hell middle and upper classes tend to be fat mens and womens.

its cultural, economical and political reasons.

here in mexico once a week you got to drink... if you can you get wasted THE entire week you do it (i already leave this behind), sure people will say s### about you but who cares.
we got a saying here: even if you dont got money for food you have money for beer....
and the govt loves having an inmense population of ignorant and drunk people to oversee... easier to manipulate

also here we as a nation dont got a real culture for being in shape
its a latinamerican problem

[mrmouth]

Most obesity has to do with overeating more than what you eat. Latin America has never had a good diet, but now they have more money. In the case of Brazil, a lot more, in a very short time. And for all intensive purposes, they are spending the hell out of it, on everything.

[Phier]

Brazilian Steakhouses are awesome though.

Its an endless parade of perfectly cooked meat.

[Gaidin]

because its poor people, after work they return home they eat and drink beer to the end.

More that as a country 'develops' and moves towards what I'll loosely term 'first world' status, service industries pick up, manual labor workers take jobs which require less manual labor, and eating habits don't change. Guess what, they don't work off the extra energy, and its converted to fat. Seen it happen in my own family when one of my family members used to be a touring musician, and then got a desk job for his state government.

Beer's a factor, but not the defining factor.

[visser300]

Poor people tend to lack:

-an education to ''know what they eat''.
-an amount of time in their jobs and houses that allows them to cook proper food and develop a balanced diet.
-an amount of wealth that allows them to access good food(proteins, vegetables, fruit etc.)

So, and as a general rule, Poor people rely on combinations of fast-food(every country has it's traditionally ''fast made'' and ''full of fats'' street food) and Carbo oriented diets. Accumulation of carbo tends to make one fat.

Well, American aint

- Lack of education
- Lack of time
- Lack of money

Yet they are all freaking fat. I mean ALL

[Claudius Gothicus]

Well, American aint

- Lack of education
- Lack of time
- Lack of money

Yet they are all freaking fat. I mean ALL

You would be surprised, the prevalence of obesity among America's Urban Poor is pretty damn high.

[Thorn777]

its a pass time and its told brazillians watch allot of TV as well. Even in Germany you get them soap operas. And all the shiny plastic people on the telly get them even more depressed, so they go what the hell...im gonna fix me another plate of potato chips with baconayse.

[Ludicus]

its a latinamerican problem

Obesity is a world wide problem, it´s a global problem, excess body weight is pandemic.

[mrmouth]

Brazilian Steakhouses are awesome though.

Its an endless parade of perfectly cooked meat.

You sure you're not confusing that with Argentinian steakhouses?

Well, American aint

- Lack of education
- Lack of time
- Lack of money

Yet they are all freaking fat. I mean ALL

And how old are you? I mean I just have to think you are an impressionable young person that really does not know what you are talking about.

[alexanderswift]

Well, American aint

- Lack of education
- Lack of time
- Lack of money

Yet they are all freaking fat. I mean ALL

Correct me if I'm wrong but isn't the obesity rate in America something around 30%?


Though that figure might be a few years out of date now, either way that's pretty insane. For any country to have that high of a rate is crazy.

[Ludicus]

Correct me if I'm wrong but isn't the obesity rate in America something around 30%?

USA,70.8 per cent overweight, a study from Yale University.
Mexico, 68.1 per cent overweight.
U.K., 64.2 per cent overweight.
Australia, 63.7 per cent overweight.
Finland, 58 per cent overweight.
Jamaica, 55.3 per cent overweight
Sweden 53.3 per cent overweight.
Brazil 51.7 per cent overweight.
France, 50.7 per cent overweight.
Colombia 48.3 per cent overweight.
Malaysia,44.2 per cent overweight.
China 24.5 per cent overweight.
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"half of the jobs created this past month in America were of the burger-flipping variety!"
Thanks, McDonald’s: Obesity is Killing America’s Economic Competitiveness by Ballooning Health Care Costs