Obese and overweight people require more fuel to transport them and the food they eat, and the problem will worsen as the population literally swells in size, a team at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine says. c: E1 i) T: ~# `, M1 I& h
This adds to food shortages and higher energy prices, the school's researchers Phil Edwards and Ian Roberts wrote in the journal Lancet on Friday.) a: O* B0 I' n& n/ j' r$ Z
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"We are all becoming heavier and it is a global responsibility," Edwards said in a telephone interview. "Obesity is a key part of the big picture."* ~" A2 c% C1 V# ]( E8 D! W% N
) A0 i( h/ X- ]0 X' u, l At least 400 million adults worldwide are obese. The World Health Organization (WHO) projects by 2015, 2.3 billion adults will be overweight and more than 700 million will be obese.; R0 m& Q% }, i! N, L* ?, P9 d
: X9 n' v4 J9 ]" n In their model, the researchers pegged 40 percent of the global population as obese with a body mass index of near 30. Many nations are fast approaching or have surpassed this level, Edwards said.
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BMI is a calculation of height to weight, and the normal range is usually considered to be 18 to 25, with more than 25 considered overweight and above 30 obese.
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2 D- k8 U( c. m9 [( ]2 E: y% k The researchers found that obese people require 1,680 daily calories to sustain normal energy and another 1,280 calories to maintain daily activities, 18 percent more than someone with a stable BMI.1 u, }6 J- A8 S( R
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Because thinner people eat less and are more likely to walk than rely on cars, a slimmer population would lower demand for fuel for transportation and for agriculture, Edwards said.
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This is also important because 20 percent of greenhouse gas emissions stem from agriculture, he added.
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The next step is quantifying how much a heavier population is contributing to climate change, higher fuel prices and food shortages, he added.
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+ e% N" g; T( a2 s1 i, b "Promotion of a normal distribution of BMI would reduce the global demand for, and thus the price of, food," Edwards and Roberts wrote. |