Study: Obesity Could Lead To Depletion Of Earth’s Resources

June 21, 2012 1:49 PM

Share this food energy demands as an extra half a billion people living on the earth,” the study concluded.

The findings were published in the BMC Public Health journal earlier this year.

Research was conducted based on the theory that the body mass of a population should be factored into the amount of energy it burns, in addition to the number of people residing in a certain region.

Though obesity touches all corners of the Earth, it was found that Americans were especially weighing down the planet.

“If all countries had the [body mass index] distribution of the USA, the increase in human biomass of 58 million [metric tons] would be equivalent in mass to an extra 935 million people of average body mass, and have energy requirements equivalent to that of 473 million adults,” the research dictated.

Data collected on the BMI and height distribution of the average adult in each country was used to calculate the total biomass resulting from a population’s size and average body mass. The percentage of those in a given country who are overweight and obese was also a factor.

“Although the concept of biomass is rarely applied to the human species, the ecological implications of increasing body mass are significant and ought to be taken into account when evaluating future trends and planning for future resource challenges,” the study found. ”Tackling population fatness may be critical to world food security and ecological sustainability.”

I don't want to sound like I'm against overweight people (because I am one) but this is something that I've thought a lot about. Some of it is true. I also can't blame my obesity on disease. I mean I know that my genes aren't helping me, but this is an AMERICAN epidemic. I know that there is obesity in every country on earth, but it's nothing like the problem that we have here. But obesity adds to the cost of health insurance as well, and it's expect to just keep rising as the years do. At this point, I'm not against government intervention, heck, they can pay for my surgery if they like.

People are freaking out because New York is banning 20oz. sodas, I think it's a great thing. That's what got us into this mess, the ability, or freedom, to purchase a 20oz soda. I was in Japan for 2 months and if you eat out at a restruant and order a coke, (because most places only have coke) it comes in what America would consider a small or medium cup, and you don't get refills. You have to pay for a whole new coke, which annoyed some of the other Americans that were there with me. But it is just a tool I feel, that the country uses to moderate weight. When I ordered my coke, I either drank it more slowly to make it last the whole meal, or drank water afterwards. In America you can do through 2 or 3 large glasses of soda while eating out without even realizing it. Also, in Japan (sorry it's all about Japan, that's really the only country outside the US I've been to) if you go to a fast food restruant I never was asked what size meal I wanted, you always got a small, unless you yourself remembered to ask for a different size. I don't know about all of you, but when I eat at a fast food place, I never remember to ask about size of the meal, it's always the worker who reminds me, by asking, "Do you want a large?" or "Do you want to add cheese for just 50 cents more?" The issue is America and the "Freedom" that is trapping us in our large bodies, and our inability to practice self control.