Ok, so now the obesity freak out by the media has officially gone crazy. On a continent that is dealing with an AIDs crisis, shortages of food and a lack of stable governments, the media is now saying they have an obesity problem.
Yes, that continent is Africa.
Ok, shake yourself out of that stupor. The continent is under a stage 1 obesity alert. I mean, just listen to Krisela Steyn, a retired director of the South African Medical Research Council’s Chronic Disease and Lifestyle unit:
We have gone from undernutrition to overnutrition without ever having passed healthy nutrition.
Ok, I can’t really quit laughing.
What are the specific statistics?
33% of African women.
25% of African men.
Lovely. The United Nations World Health Organization says these rates will rise to 41 and 30 percent respectively.
Amazing, simply amazing. Of course, the article doesn’t list the threshold at which an African is considered obese.