America has some unlikely new partners in the ever-burgeoning battle with obesity: developing countries, where populations have historically been malnourished. Eager to adopt an industrialized lifestyle, some inhabitants of the Earth's poorer regions are learning what it means to have too many empty calories and not enough exercise.

The root of the problem is in the US, where 60 percent of adults are overweight and child obesity increases annually by one percent, according to Marquisa LaVelle, a biological anthropologist at the University of Rhode Island. Until we solve the problem here, she says, we have no hope of helping other countries, because, "We're exporting our lifestyle."

The adoption of an industrial economy brings a shift from manual to skilled labor, which means a more sedentary workday for the average laborer. Children feel the effects as well, with a Western model of school placing them in a classroom seat upwards of six hours a day.

Although income resources can expand with the switch to skilled labor and increased education, the expenditures often go toward luxury foods items that are high in fat and low in nutritional value. Combine this with an overall reduction in physical activity, and it's easy to see how the pounds pile on.

Obesity has a many associated health risks, including heart disease, high blood pressure, and adult onset diabetes -- with an estimated $99 billion cost for treatment per year in the US. Developing countries sure won't be helped by such an additional burden, which is why LaVelle is trying to focus attention on the issue. In a Boston symposium last month on the worldwide epidemic of obesity, she organized a number of researchers to share their findings.

The professor is convinced that redesigning our lifestyles to incorporate activities like walking and climbing stairs is the first step. "We need playgrounds for grownups that are just as fun and physically challenging" as those for kids, she says. Changing eating habits, especially getting away from the fast foods served in school cafeterias, is equally important.

Issue Date: March 22 - 28, 2002