Still #1!

Every four years when the Olympics or the World Cup in soccer come around, the foam finger industry gets a huge boost. Of course, the vuvuzela industry also got a bit boost during the last World Cup; the quest for worldwide dominance is probably older than the Caesars, the Mongols and Alexander the Great.  Sometimes, though, world domination isn't the greatest thing to display. Take obesity, for example (really. take it. I don't want it). A report from the BBC today claims that women in the UK are the most obese among the 19 European countries studied recently, with 23.9 percent of all British women suffering from a state of obesity. The men aren't too far out of it, either, coming in second to their male counterparts in Malta. Malta? Who knew? The men are a robust 22 percent when it comes to obesity percentages.
On the distaff side, British women are followed by Maltese women at 21.1% and Latvian ladies with an obesity percentage of 20.9%.  British men are followed in third place by Hungarians at 21.4% and those from the Czech Republic, weighing in at a hefty 18.4%.
"Who's on the lower end of this study?" I hear you ask. For the women, the last (or first, if you prefer) four places go to French women at 12.7%, Bulgarian women at 11.3%, Italian women at 9.3% and Romanian women who had an obesity rate of a mere 8%.
On the men's side, France tipped the scales at 11.7%, followed by the Bulgarians at 11.6%, the Italians at 11.3% and topping the list were the Romanian men who registered a mere 7.6% obesity rate.
Of course, the United States' citizens were not counted in this study because researchers knew we'd chew up the other countries like they were so many Big Macs; and it's true, we are the fattest country in the world.
Estimates from the Center for Disease Control figure that more than 35% of Americans are obese...and more than two-thirds of American women are at least overweight! Other somewhat uncertain figures place American women at a 25.2% number while American men head the list with 27.8%. How that figures to be 35% total is beyond my statistical ability to calculate. However, if you want to be thin, move to Colorado where the obesity rate is 21%, the lowest in the country...but do not go to Mississippi which has the highest rate of any state at 34%.
All of this adds up to serious health issues, of course, but if France and Italy are both on the lower end, I say, drink more wine!