This has been going on for three years, yet I just learned of it: In 2008, Japan’s Ministry of Health passed the ‘metabo’ law and declared war against obesity. … Japanese people are normally envied for their lean physiques. In fact, the OECD ranks them, with only 3% population obesity, one of the least obese developed countries. … Comparing the time periods 1976-1980 and 1996-2000, prevalence of obese boys and girls increased from 6.1% and 7.1% to 11.1% and 10.2%. …
I am 42 male 6ft tall 84 kg, a little overweight in my book with a BMI of 25. Normally I want to be at 80 kg(24 bmi). I know when I am healthy range and when I have eaten too much junk food. For me staying healthy is important and so I can hit the gym, cycle, i monitor what I eat and my weight goes down. If the calories I burn each day are more than I consume my weight drops; you cant argue that. Access to ultra processed foods has rapidly increased; take away, fast food, sugary softdrinks etc. schools in many oecd countries have reduced the amount of exercises kids do at school (bad policy- this is a preventative approach all govt need to teach kids that exercise is as important as eating). That you must exercise as part of living.
There is the complexity of metro areas vs rural and remote; in australia we have a gap problem; those in rural remote areas are fatter, sicker, poorer, and have less access to services loke gyms and yoga and worse food security (food costs more and isnt as healthy)
Corporations are taxing healthy foods by charging more. A 1.25 litre coke often is cheaper than the same volume mineral water. Per calorie its cheaper to buy corn chips than it is bananas. We need to make healthy food choices the cheapest option, by subsidizing a basket of healthy foods avail to all and taxing the hell out of unhealthy foods. There is obviously a problem in agreeing which foods are healthy and which unhealthy; again corporations have intentionally confused matters in their strive to maximising profits off peoples waist lines with easy to consume meals.
We have a problem worldwide of an ever increasing aging population; and as people get older their wealth generally increases, they eat more, they exercise less, their metabolism starts slowing down and then the amount of calories consumed exceed the amount burned and they get fat.
We have an issue of body positivity. Body positivity is a great thing; but promoting being fat is healthy is a crime imho. Being fat isnt healthy or something we should be celebrating. Ask any fat person if they feel good about their weight; most wont be. We need to help and encourage people to loose weight but to do it finding an activity each person loves. A few extra pounds is fine, everything in moderation right.
Many oecd countries have spent their healthcare funding on health treatment and not prevention. Investing billions into hospitals and specialist capabilties in the metro that treat an existing condition. 92% of type 2 diabetics are overweight or obese. Solving obesity would almost solve type 2 diabetes overnight. Govts must work better together at local state and fed level to create community level prevention health initiatives to stop people getting sick and going to hospital in the first place. Thats a big complex challenge as it involvef changing population level personal preferences / tastes/ social norms.
Japan is the oecd country with the lowest obesity rates. Interestingly they also live the longest. See the connection? All these other oecd countries, US, NZ, Australia etc are taxing unhealthy foods generating revenue for the govt that isnt going back into preventative medicine but instead used as a revenue generation tool. And its not working. People are still getting fatter and fatter. We must get stricter and more serious about this global epidemic. What i really like about Japan metabo law is it works. And its preventative. And with all countries havingnan ever increasing aging population we all must work better on preventative medicine. At the moment the health burden is disproportionately to older people who get sick more often. If we can change social norms of kids, that become adults and then elderly: if they all start eating bettter and exercising more this can solve the obesity issue or help it a lot. Its about progress not perfection. And we are going backwards at the moment.
Society norms need to change. We should be charging fat people more to fly. A plane can only carry so much. If i am 80 kg and thr person next to me is 120 kg it is easy to work out they cost more to travel, more fuel, they should pay more
Fat people, smokers, etc should be identified for private insurance and pay more. The healthy people not getting sick who arent fat and eating well and exercising also cost less on the health system. So we need to get harsh on obesity at every level and make it cost more to be fat. Hold people accountable for their choices.
This way a fat person can choose to be fat if they want but they pay more
We subsidize healthy foods to make them the cheapest and we make unhealthy foods very expensive like cigarettes. People can still consume coke but its 10/per litre, not 1 dollar.
And we subsidize healthy foods. We know this means people would then buy healthier foods because its cheaper. Many fast food companies might go bankrupt, this needs to happen to shock our system back onto a path of healthy living. There will be enormous push back on companies at risk of loosing their business of feeding junk food to people.
We shouldnt shame fat people. As we know bullying or harrassment causes poor mental health. And we know motivating someone has a positive effect on further positive behaviour. As a society we need to become more encouraging to help others loose weight.
It stands to argue that Japan is the ONLY oecd country that has a handle of preventing its population of getting too fat. The country has realised as its people age there will be greater per lifetime burden on the health system and a preventative approach is critical to mantaining healthcare costs at an aggregate level. Its high time we stop saying being fat is ok. Its high time we all take a preventative approach. And its time for govt to shift their policies and start helping communities; govt have a key tesponsibility to create policy and taxes that shift society and population level trends/ patterns. For too long govt workers have not been held accountable. So there should be KPIs put in place against politicians and senior govt workers that if the population doesnt loose weight; they loose their jobs. Thats simple. We myst start making the govt more accountable as they are meant to look after society in a lot of ways. Health MUST be considered a Public good. Like defence spending. And its the govt responsibility (and individual people) to impact and change how society views being healthy/ unhealthy.
My two cents.
Its not an easy fix; but there is a lot more we can all do as individuals and as communicites, as corporations and as govt stakeholders. It will require a collective effort.
Well, you are partially correct. But there are actually a few factors that can cause an otherwise effective fat loss plan (as a trainer I do not ever talk about weight loss, weight loss is not the goal, fat loss is. If you lose weight, but the majority of it is muscle, that is detrimental to your long term health... this is why losing weight the traditional way that is following a low fat, grain based diet, in a 500 cal/day deficit and performing 30 minutes of moderate intensity steady state cardio is a prescription for failure, and long term poor health. I make it my mission to try to eliminate the entire concept of weight control through thermogenesis, it is flat out barbaric, antiquated and destined to fail in the long run. I had a paper on this topic published in Fitness Trainer Magazine. That tangent got long...) anyways... as you may or may not know, the human body is actually comprised of an almost equal number of human cells and bacteria cells, yes you are half bacteria, and those bacteria play a large role in keeping you alive and regulating your metabolism and body weight. Depending on the diversity and makeup of your gut flora, it can either aid in keeping you fit an trim, or it can derail all efforts and make weight loss seem impossible for some people. Admittedly, this is not my area of expertise, and typically do not initially address it with clients... but there is a good reason for that ... my focus is primarily on balancing and optimizeing hormones. hormones are the most powerful tool we have for shaping our bodies and our health. Hormones can be manipulated by following specific training and dietary protocols designed to elicit a specific response at a specific time. This approach is exponentially more effective than the mainstream recommended approach I belittled earlier. Finally because gut biodiversity is, at least in part, influenced by lifestyle factors - including in large part diet, by following my approach, gut microbes tend to balance themselves naturally over time... for most people. There are people with what is known as candida gut, which is characterized by excessive overgrowth of a single, pro inflammatory gut microbe that also makes it very difficult to lose fat - Candida. In exteme cases a fecal from a person with a healthy gut biom has been effective in restoring balance.
Please tell me this is satire, but if for some reason you believe this: Sorry, but that's not how genetics works. Where did you ever get that idea? What's really making people fat is eating too much/not exercising enough. People will claim genetics even though that would only effect bone structure and metabolism, not weight. You can still maintain if you try, even with a "slow" metabolism. Next they claim medication, but it's doubted any doctor would keep a patient on medicine that would make them so overweight it's taking a toll on their health. Before you can say water weight, that's bull crap too because water is not flab, and water retention makes everywhere bloated and tight, even fingers, toes, etc. Lipedemia doesn't make you 500 pounds, sugar. I could go on and on, what you are saying is not true. The real explanation is that a lot of families are not genetically fat, but each generation learns from the previous bad habits that keep the bloodline obese.
There is not a single genetic factor that can make someone overweight if they are not overeating and/or not using up those calories during the day. Not a single one.
Factor, not cause. Like being a bigot is a factor in treating people poorly who look a certain way, & excusing that treatment with half true statements. Someone can have a skinny waist & be unhealthy. & at the same time have a large waist & be healthy. It's like saying all tall people are just better, grow taller, if you have short children you will get fined. Or think about a hair cut. Short hair is less likely to get snagged in doors, moving parts, etc... & one could argue that a shaved head is less likely to attract parisites, & is easier to clean. So, hair should be taxed as well. Not to mention smoking, drinking, eating anything besides the allowed daily ration. I am sick of this 1984 idea that the state has to tell us what is good & what is bad. I like bacon & I like carrots. Many Americans are fat & lazy. But it's from being lazy first.
That must be some new American gene then... Nobody becomes obese because of genes (at least no more than people become lazy or arrogant because of their genes: you can be too lazy to exercise or be addicted to sugar and genetics will play some role in that but no matter the genes you do not become obese with healthy calorie intake and burning). The genetic excuse is a straw man and it's completely disingenuous to use it to block measures that could help large numbers of people.
The people with slow metabolism? They need to eat less (having a slow metablosim means you can survive on less calories) and/or expose themselves to colder temperatures to force their bodies to burn more calories. It's that simple.
Japan doesn't even consider genetics to be a factor. Not all overweight or obese people get that way from eating too much. There are loads of factors that simply cannot be monitored or regulated. Genetics is one of those factors. This makes the fat tax ultimately meaningless.
Your tentative explanations make no sense. At all. In any way. I would try to explain how and why, but they make too little sense to even go there. Sorry dude, I can't follow.
Tobacco smokers beg to differ - or at least they would, if they hadn't ceased to be a majority. (And aren't drugs like marijuana pretty common, according to the high school surveys...)
My link was a treatment of the subject, not independent research; in it you would have found the info that the very numbers you cited were retracted and corrected in the very journal you linked to.
This particular subject is one that, for some reason, inspires much digging in of heels and refusal to look at fat and weight in an unbiased fashion, not based on "common knowledge" or beyond the surface of the issue..
Lots of comments; hear are my thoughts;
I am 42 male 6ft tall 84 kg, a little overweight in my book with a BMI of 25. Normally I want to be at 80 kg(24 bmi). I know when I am healthy range and when I have eaten too much junk food. For me staying healthy is important and so I can hit the gym, cycle, i monitor what I eat and my weight goes down. If the calories I burn each day are more than I consume my weight drops; you cant argue that. Access to ultra processed foods has rapidly increased; take away, fast food, sugary softdrinks etc. schools in many oecd countries have reduced the amount of exercises kids do at school (bad policy- this is a preventative approach all govt need to teach kids that exercise is as important as eating). That you must exercise as part of living.
There is the complexity of metro areas vs rural and remote; in australia we have a gap problem; those in rural remote areas are fatter, sicker, poorer, and have less access to services loke gyms and yoga and worse food security (food costs more and isnt as healthy)
Corporations are taxing healthy foods by charging more. A 1.25 litre coke often is cheaper than the same volume mineral water. Per calorie its cheaper to buy corn chips than it is bananas. We need to make healthy food choices the cheapest option, by subsidizing a basket of healthy foods avail to all and taxing the hell out of unhealthy foods. There is obviously a problem in agreeing which foods are healthy and which unhealthy; again corporations have intentionally confused matters in their strive to maximising profits off peoples waist lines with easy to consume meals.
We have a problem worldwide of an ever increasing aging population; and as people get older their wealth generally increases, they eat more, they exercise less, their metabolism starts slowing down and then the amount of calories consumed exceed the amount burned and they get fat.
We have an issue of body positivity. Body positivity is a great thing; but promoting being fat is healthy is a crime imho. Being fat isnt healthy or something we should be celebrating. Ask any fat person if they feel good about their weight; most wont be. We need to help and encourage people to loose weight but to do it finding an activity each person loves. A few extra pounds is fine, everything in moderation right.
Many oecd countries have spent their healthcare funding on health treatment and not prevention. Investing billions into hospitals and specialist capabilties in the metro that treat an existing condition. 92% of type 2 diabetics are overweight or obese. Solving obesity would almost solve type 2 diabetes overnight. Govts must work better together at local state and fed level to create community level prevention health initiatives to stop people getting sick and going to hospital in the first place. Thats a big complex challenge as it involvef changing population level personal preferences / tastes/ social norms.
Japan is the oecd country with the lowest obesity rates. Interestingly they also live the longest. See the connection? All these other oecd countries, US, NZ, Australia etc are taxing unhealthy foods generating revenue for the govt that isnt going back into preventative medicine but instead used as a revenue generation tool. And its not working. People are still getting fatter and fatter. We must get stricter and more serious about this global epidemic. What i really like about Japan metabo law is it works. And its preventative. And with all countries havingnan ever increasing aging population we all must work better on preventative medicine. At the moment the health burden is disproportionately to older people who get sick more often. If we can change social norms of kids, that become adults and then elderly: if they all start eating bettter and exercising more this can solve the obesity issue or help it a lot. Its about progress not perfection. And we are going backwards at the moment.
Society norms need to change. We should be charging fat people more to fly. A plane can only carry so much. If i am 80 kg and thr person next to me is 120 kg it is easy to work out they cost more to travel, more fuel, they should pay more
Fat people, smokers, etc should be identified for private insurance and pay more. The healthy people not getting sick who arent fat and eating well and exercising also cost less on the health system. So we need to get harsh on obesity at every level and make it cost more to be fat. Hold people accountable for their choices.
This way a fat person can choose to be fat if they want but they pay more
We subsidize healthy foods to make them the cheapest and we make unhealthy foods very expensive like cigarettes. People can still consume coke but its 10/per litre, not 1 dollar.
And we subsidize healthy foods. We know this means people would then buy healthier foods because its cheaper. Many fast food companies might go bankrupt, this needs to happen to shock our system back onto a path of healthy living. There will be enormous push back on companies at risk of loosing their business of feeding junk food to people.
We shouldnt shame fat people. As we know bullying or harrassment causes poor mental health. And we know motivating someone has a positive effect on further positive behaviour. As a society we need to become more encouraging to help others loose weight.
It stands to argue that Japan is the ONLY oecd country that has a handle of preventing its population of getting too fat. The country has realised as its people age there will be greater per lifetime burden on the health system and a preventative approach is critical to mantaining healthcare costs at an aggregate level. Its high time we stop saying being fat is ok. Its high time we all take a preventative approach. And its time for govt to shift their policies and start helping communities; govt have a key tesponsibility to create policy and taxes that shift society and population level trends/ patterns. For too long govt workers have not been held accountable. So there should be KPIs put in place against politicians and senior govt workers that if the population doesnt loose weight; they loose their jobs. Thats simple. We myst start making the govt more accountable as they are meant to look after society in a lot of ways. Health MUST be considered a Public good. Like defence spending. And its the govt responsibility (and individual people) to impact and change how society views being healthy/ unhealthy.
My two cents.
Its not an easy fix; but there is a lot more we can all do as individuals and as communicites, as corporations and as govt stakeholders. It will require a collective effort.
Well, you are partially correct. But there are actually a few factors that can cause an otherwise effective fat loss plan (as a trainer I do not ever talk about weight loss, weight loss is not the goal, fat loss is. If you lose weight, but the majority of it is muscle, that is detrimental to your long term health... this is why losing weight the traditional way that is following a low fat, grain based diet, in a 500 cal/day deficit and performing 30 minutes of moderate intensity steady state cardio is a prescription for failure, and long term poor health. I make it my mission to try to eliminate the entire concept of weight control through thermogenesis, it is flat out barbaric, antiquated and destined to fail in the long run. I had a paper on this topic published in Fitness Trainer Magazine. That tangent got long...) anyways... as you may or may not know, the human body is actually comprised of an almost equal number of human cells and bacteria cells, yes you are half bacteria, and those bacteria play a large role in keeping you alive and regulating your metabolism and body weight. Depending on the diversity and makeup of your gut flora, it can either aid in keeping you fit an trim, or it can derail all efforts and make weight loss seem impossible for some people. Admittedly, this is not my area of expertise, and typically do not initially address it with clients... but there is a good reason for that ... my focus is primarily on balancing and optimizeing hormones. hormones are the most powerful tool we have for shaping our bodies and our health. Hormones can be manipulated by following specific training and dietary protocols designed to elicit a specific response at a specific time. This approach is exponentially more effective than the mainstream recommended approach I belittled earlier. Finally because gut biodiversity is, at least in part, influenced by lifestyle factors - including in large part diet, by following my approach, gut microbes tend to balance themselves naturally over time... for most people. There are people with what is known as candida gut, which is characterized by excessive overgrowth of a single, pro inflammatory gut microbe that also makes it very difficult to lose fat - Candida. In exteme cases a fecal from a person with a healthy gut biom has been effective in restoring balance.
Your an idiot if you think that’s how health works.
And your comment barely makes sense, either! I had to read it over a few times just to get what you even meant.
If you can't argue, why even make a claim? That makes less sense than any article could ever be.
Please tell me this is satire, but if for some reason you believe this: Sorry, but that's not how genetics works. Where did you ever get that idea? What's really making people fat is eating too much/not exercising enough. People will claim genetics even though that would only effect bone structure and metabolism, not weight. You can still maintain if you try, even with a "slow" metabolism. Next they claim medication, but it's doubted any doctor would keep a patient on medicine that would make them so overweight it's taking a toll on their health. Before you can say water weight, that's bull crap too because water is not flab, and water retention makes everywhere bloated and tight, even fingers, toes, etc. Lipedemia doesn't make you 500 pounds, sugar. I could go on and on, what you are saying is not true. The real explanation is that a lot of families are not genetically fat, but each generation learns from the previous bad habits that keep the bloodline obese.
There is not a single genetic factor that can make someone overweight if they are not overeating and/or not using up those calories during the day. Not a single one.
The usa needs to tax the fat.
Factor, not cause. Like being a bigot is a factor in treating people poorly who look a certain way, & excusing that treatment with half true statements. Someone can have a skinny waist & be unhealthy. & at the same time have a large waist & be healthy. It's like saying all tall people are just better, grow taller, if you have short children you will get fined. Or think about a hair cut. Short hair is less likely to get snagged in doors, moving parts, etc... & one could argue that a shaved head is less likely to attract parisites, & is easier to clean. So, hair should be taxed as well. Not to mention smoking, drinking, eating anything besides the allowed daily ration. I am sick of this 1984 idea that the state has to tell us what is good & what is bad. I like bacon & I like carrots. Many Americans are fat & lazy. But it's from being lazy first.
That must be some new American gene then... Nobody becomes obese because of genes (at least no more than people become lazy or arrogant because of their genes: you can be too lazy to exercise or be addicted to sugar and genetics will play some role in that but no matter the genes you do not become obese with healthy calorie intake and burning). The genetic excuse is a straw man and it's completely disingenuous to use it to block measures that could help large numbers of people.
The people with slow metabolism? They need to eat less (having a slow metablosim means you can survive on less calories) and/or expose themselves to colder temperatures to force their bodies to burn more calories. It's that simple.
Japan doesn't even consider genetics to be a factor. Not all overweight or obese people get that way from eating too much. There are loads of factors that simply cannot be monitored or regulated. Genetics is one of those factors. This makes the fat tax ultimately meaningless.
That would be why they are measuring the waist.
I know why the limit is lower for men. Women have big hips. That's why. Ever think of that?
Your tentative explanations make no sense. At all. In any way. I would try to explain how and why, but they make too little sense to even go there. Sorry dude, I can't follow.
> and ignore users of common drugs.
Tobacco smokers beg to differ - or at least they would, if they hadn't ceased to be a majority. (And aren't drugs like marijuana pretty common, according to the high school surveys...)
Argument by authority convinces no one.
My link was a treatment of the subject, not independent research; in it you would have found the info that the very numbers you cited were retracted and corrected in the very journal you linked to.
This particular subject is one that, for some reason, inspires much digging in of heels and refusal to look at fat and weight in an unbiased fashion, not based on "common knowledge" or beyond the surface of the issue..