>>>Not surprised to see your Tongas and Samoas up there, as they've traditionally revered fatness as a beauty. I am surprised to see sport-mad Oz up there above the UK (and even more so NZ). It's interesting to note that we're the fattest of the Europeans, besides the Greeks. Maybe that's because we most follow the US in diet. I'd be interested to know WHAT type of overweight we have though. Oh, I know we have our fair share of women shaped like pear-shaped pillow cases of hammers but maybe the majority of fat you see on men is the "beer belly" type: intra-abdominal, fat-studded greater omentum, as opposed to sub-cutaneous.
>>
>>For me the really interesting thing is Japan with 22.6 on 163: this is a wealthy country but not in the overweight area.
>
>Different mind-set from us. If whaling were stepped up they might all get fat on blubber though. Depends what's next out of the sea. They do eat a lot of fish (their fishing fleets are HUGE), not fattening, and rice.

Rice is better than bread - at least better than most of the industrialized white bread - as most asiatic countries are less fatty and the percentages of Mexico and some other countries south of the US hint at the bad effects of bread and pancakes. Fish might also be part of the reason Italy is not too fat, but that does not fit totally with the rank of the greeks.
>
>>Probably the high cost of shushi is worth it not only from the taste -
>
>Not struck on it myself.

In summer the best snack in between for me. But I think the food additives in pre-prepared meals play also a heavy role, and japanese cuisine is proud not to rely much on fat, spices and additives.
>
>>or is it the other way around and the same percentage on money is spent on less amount of food ?
>>Singapore right above it. And the fact that North and South Korea are very similar in their rate desite different wealth argues strongly for a "cousine effect".
>
>You mean "Cuisine" (similar diet - cookery) or cousin (as in eat what the relatives eat)?

Both: "cousin cuisine". The distribution of the countries (viewed with mental filters on general population wealth, size of servings/no. of meals, basic additive food distribution [bread/rice/noodles/pancake/potatoes], main dish ingredient distribution [meat/fish/sausage/vegetarian], usage of fat [type of oil/amount of cream], amount of vegetables/salads and beverages has a few departures from my expectations.

>>My 2 pounds (would like to get rid of more...)
>Good pun!!!! :-)

>
>I note that meat-guzzling Germany's up there near us! :-)

Having access to better-tasting beer (which fits my picture of guzzling, and of course I am unbiased<g>) coupled with a slightly lower rank surprised me. Belgiums low rank astonished me - but perhaps they are always compared France, which is quite low on the list for "rich" countries, especially in europe.

regards

thomas