Page 101 - Erasmus+ : Food on Europe's Tables

95 Evaluation of the Results 96

the human diet. This is especially im- 10%. When comparing those young
portant when talking about the topic people to those that belong to the
of obesity, because there is an obvi- lower economic class it is immedi-
ous difference between the wealthy ately evident that poorer people suf-
and the poor people. fer from obesity at a far higher rate
than their wealthier counterparts.
s we explained before, obesi- Young men are obese at a rate of
A ty is a serious problem today. 22% in lower economic circumstanc-
For the first time in history, there es, while women have an obesity rate
are now more people suffering from of a 25%. Here it is also important
obesity than show symptoms of food to notice that women seem to suffer
deprivation. And the number of to an even greater degree than men
obese people is steadily rising over regarding the rate of obesity.
the world. Obesity has been proven
to be linked to cancer, cardiac dis- It is also crucial to realize that the
eases, strokes and high blood pres- eating behaviour, which is learned
sure among other symptoms and is in the early years of one’s life, is very
therefore an immense public health difficult to change when a person is
risk. older. This hints at the fact that the
solution for that problem is to be
When observing a group of young found in the early years of a person.
people between the age of 11 to
17 years, one can clearly see that Looking outside of the European
some of those individuals are suf- continent, the USA also shows a link
fering from obesity. When sorting between poverty and obesity. In the
the groups based on their economic US, wherever a critical economic sit-
status, one can see that young males uation dominates, the rate of obesi-
belonging to the upper class suffer ty increases significantly. There are
from obesity at a rate of about 12%. seven US states which hold both
Girls from the same class are even titles; one of the poorest and most
less likely to be obese at a rate of obese states at the same time.

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