Obesity has surpassed hunger

I heard this on the news this morning and had to read it for myself so here it is....
The number of obese people worldwide have surpassed the number suffering from hunger, and economic incentives are urgently needed to address the problem, an international conference in Australia has heard.
AdvertisementBarry Popkin, a Professor of nutrition at the University of North Carolina, said the transition from "a starving world to an obese one has occurred with dramatic speed" thanks to a global dietary shift away from cereals and grains towards animal products and vegetable oils.
“This dietary change combined with a decrease in physical activity has produced a world where obesity has become a greater health concern than malnutrition,” Professor Popkin told the International Association of Agricultural Economists conference in Australia's Queensland state on Monday.
"Obesity has become the global norm, and malnutrition - while still important in a few countries - is no longer the dominant disease," Popkin said in his speech. Popkin said China illustrated the change, with more people in the countries population eating high-fat, oil-rich diets and keeping sedentary lifestyles by working in offices, watching TV and driving cars.
“Governments should consider how to make healthy foods cheaper to address obesity,” he said. But Barry Senauer, a professor of applied economics at the University of Minnesota, said a tax on fatty foods would be politically unacceptable in countries like the United States.
"Less direct incentives such as policies to raise the cost of driving, and encourage the use of public transport would help increase physical activity, and reduce obesity amongst Americans,” said Professor Senauer in an address to the conference. "Obesity brings with it significant risks of chronic disease, and adjusting domestic policy to encourage a less inactive lifestyle is literally a matter of life and death," he said. -(Sapa) http://www.health24.com/news/Research/1-3132,37072.asp