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Reply to "Young people in other countries are remarkably thinner than Americans"

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]The thing is, you are describing many parts of the US as well. [b]I live in DC and I rarely see overweight children or people in their 20s or 30s. [/b]I lived in Denver, Northern California, Seattle, and Minneapolis for a time and it was similar. I guess the one thing that is different is that people in all of these places do work out, but if Americans were really pre-destined to be heavier, you would see more obese people.

In my observation, the biggest correlation with obesity in the US is poverty and education. I grew up in a small town and there is lots of obesity there, but especially among the poorest members of the community. This is also true in my dad's Midwestern hometown. There, you also see a lot of obesity among middle class and UMC people, but there are also much lower levels of education generally.

I do think some people have genetic predispositions for obesity. I also know that thinness really does not correlate perfectly with health -- I wonder how many of the countries you've lived in have much higher rates of smoking than in the US. Nicotine can suppress appetite but smoking, of course, is terrible for your health. No doctor would recommend trading off obesity for a smoking habit.

I think we tend to compare our image of certain segments of the US (more rural, less education, lower income) against people living in foreign capitals. That doesn't make sense. New York City, for instance, is full of thin people, just like Paris is. But have you spent much time outside these major cities in foreign countries, in areas where people have less access to education and disposable incomes? I don't know for sure, but I would anticipate that you'd also see higher rates of obesity. I know that obesity rates are rising in Western Europe and would expect them to follow similar patterns to those in the US in terms of geography and demographics.[/quote]

I'm in my 20s and live in DC as well.  I see lots of overweight people &lt;30 daily.[/quote]

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