If Not Diet Then Genetics? The Question Of Obesity

Not sure if this is a useful post (especially since it's beyond my ability to firmly rationalize in any meaningful manner) but for some reason I remember reading a couple of years ago in The Economist a statistics table in which the Dutch and the Italians (in that order) were the "lightest" Europeans by weight.

What I like about these statistics is that they always obliterate perceptions and myths. For example, according to the Obesity International Task Force (not sure about the validity of these tests or the organization but let's run with it) concludes that obesity among men (including the portlies in Germany, Finland and Greece) in the EU outweigh (excuse the pun) those in the United States - and Canada is not that far off the U.S. for the record.

Interestingly, according to another study, Greece, Portugal and Spain seem to have a bigger (so to speak) obesity problem (for both men and women) than their Mediterranean cousins in Italy and France.

In fact, Italy and France (who are virtually the same) compare well with Nordic countries like Denmark.

Now, I'm no dietician nor am I a geneticist or heck even a eugenist. I'm not a complicated man or a violent man. I'm just a blogger who does his darn best to post things of interest. In this humble vain, let me wonder about a couple of things.

To me, genetics and diet are two fluid and obtuse terms. It's hard to pin down with any degree of scientific proof what effects or ails the human body. When all else fails, it always comes down to diet and genetics.

We're always told about the superiority of the Mediterranean diet (which as a card carrying member of the Mediterranean race I must allow my bias to show in agreeing with this) yet why is it that three of the five European Mediterranean nations are considered to have high obesity rates when compared to Northern Europe who are thought to have a "less developed" diet? Why is it that Italy and France compare well with Denmark, Belgium and Austria? Speaking of which, the latter being among the least obese!

Genetics or diet? Combo?

Here's a great page from Quackwatch.com with various links regarding weight and obesity.