VOA标准英语2011--New Survey Finds 1/3 of World's Populati

New Survey Finds 1/3 of World's Population Overweight

Obesity¹ is not just an American problem anymore. A recent international survey by the Worldwatch Institute, found that nearly two billion people around the world are overweight. Health statistics were gathered from 177 countries. Researchers there say the trend is being driven, ironically, by rising personal income, which is leading people to eat fattier foods and exercise less.
"Every population is getting heavier. Among the industrialized countries the heaviest has been in the United States, to some extent Canada, Britain and Australia," explained Richard Weil, who led the survey.
In compiling its statistics, the Institute combined those who are overweight with those who are obese². In other words, all those with a body mass index of 25 or greater were counted as overweight.
Weil says, in some industrialized countries nearly 80 percent of adults are overweight. The United States leads with 78.6 percent of the adult population in that category.
“Everywhere, where the money and the leisure time [are] available, people seem to be exercising less and eating more poorly,” Weil said.
He says people don't necesarily have to be rich to have a weight problem. But in many countries, income is rising and there is easy access to low-quality foods.
China and India, for example, both have a growing middle class.
"China seems to be increasing in overweight in many areas. Again, it seems to be tied into income and is also showing very highly in the Middle East in some of these oil rich countries,” explained Weil.
Japan and France had the lowest proportions of overweight adults, mostly because people in those countries typically eat smaller portions.
As the number of overweight people grows, so do health problems. Type-2 diabetes³ is closely related to obesity. And there's a long list of complications related to diabetes, including kidney and cardiovascular disease, blindness and amputation⁴.
“We monitor obesity over the years. There has been a significant uptick in the late 80s in obesity," said Dr. Ann Albright, who heads the Division of Diabetes Translation at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or CDC. "In diabetes, that uptick happened about 6 years later. So there is a bit of a lag time, but from an epidemiologic perspective we are able to see a relationship."
According to the World Health Organization, more than 300 million people worldwide have Type-2 diabetes. China, India and the U.S. have the largest numbers.
But not all overweight people develop diabetes.
“Your genetics loads the gun, and your life style pulls the trigger,” she said.
If worldwide trends continue, the projections⁵ are discouraging, especially for China, India and the U.S. According to the CDC, one out of every three people in the world could have diabetes by the year 2050.

1 obesity   

n.肥胖，肥大

参考例句：

• One effect of overeating may be obesity.吃得过多能导致肥胖。
• Sugar and fat can more easily lead to obesity than some other foods.糖和脂肪比其他食物更容易导致肥胖。

2 obese   

adj.过度肥胖的，肥大的

参考例句：

• The old man is really obese,it can't be healthy.那位老人确实过于肥胖了，不能算是健康。
• Being obese and lazy is dangerous to health.又胖又懒危害健康。

3 diabetes   

n.糖尿病

参考例句：

• In case of diabetes, physicians advise against the use of sugar.对于糖尿病患者，医生告诫他们不要吃糖。
• Diabetes is caused by a fault in the insulin production of the body.糖尿病是由体內胰岛素分泌失调引起的。

4 amputation   

n.截肢

参考例句：

• In ancient India,adultery was punished by amputation of the nose.在古代印度，通奸要受到剖鼻的处罚。
• He lived only hours after the amputation.截肢后，他只活了几个小时。

5 projections   

预测( projection的名词复数 )； 投影； 投掷； 突起物

参考例句：

• Their sales projections are a total thumbsuck. 他们的销售量预测纯属估计。
• The council has revised its projections of funding requirements upwards. 地方议会调高了对资金需求的预测。