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Comment by tsunamifury | Hacker News Reader

We are dying of abundance

Mostly Americans and some island nations.

Many developed countries have much healthier people.

I decided to check for Finland, a country I’ve often fantasized about moving to since it often scores very highly on happiness maps.

> As of December 2023, Finland's obesity rate is 27% for men and 30% for women, with a body mass index (BMI) above the obesity threshold of 30 kg/m2. This is higher than the EU average and has increased significantly in recent decades. Obesity is most prevalent among people aged 40–64, with one in three in this age group being obese. Abdominal obesity is also common, affecting almost half of adults.

It seems to be quite bad other places too.

>Finland ... often scores very highly on happiness maps.

A Finnish comedian has something to say about that)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gt94AnJ8urA

Sedetary life style combined with lots of sausages, red meat an butter does that to a people. Alcohol is also a huge problem in Finland. Not uncommon for men to drink beer daily.

It's getting worse everywhere: https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/share-of-adults-defined-a...

It’s a function of wealth. As nations increase their wealth, their obesity goes up. Except for Japan, they seem to have it figured out. But all the Euro nations have also seen obesity spike over the same time period. Just not as much as the US because they aren’t as wealthy.

Not quite: https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/share-of-adults-defined-a...

Sweden and Switzerland are the lowest obesity of that list while being of the highest wealth. While Ukraine has been near the top with the lowest wealth. Greece and France are also outliers.

It seems to be actually a curve where as you approach wealth you get more overweight but after a certain point you become more healthy again.

Probably due to changes in burden of time and stress and more refined taste in food and a focus on fitness when you reach true wealth.

Sweden’s obesity increased from 10% to 20% as their wealth increased. Switzerland from 5% to 20%.

My point stands. I’m saying it’s impossible to have high obesity, but that it’s a function of wealth.

While wealth is involved in food abundance aspects, it’s not just a function of wealth as Greece’s obesity increased from 2010-2020 while their wealth decreased. And the wealthier parts of the US are the least obese.

I don’t think it’s the sole factor, but I think it’s not terribly complicated or some indicator of the US having a flaw.

But I think the US is leading some global fattening and we’re just first.

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