Obesity in Canada has doubled in less than thirty years.1 in every 4 Canadians is obese.
Body Mass Index is defined as our weight in kilograms divided by the square of our height in meters. A BMI greater than 25 means you are overweight. A BMI greater than 30 means you are obese.
59% of all Canadians are now either overweight or obese. 26% of Canadian children are overweight or obese.
There are now more overweight people on the planet than there are starving people. But both groups are growing.
Every second adult in the western world is overweight. One in six is obese.
The number of overweight infants under 6 months of age increased steadily from 1950 to 2000; between 1980 and 2001, it rose 74%.
The average weight of animals that live in proximity to humans also increased over roughly the same time period.
The fattest country in the world is the United States.(Mexico is number two. Canada sits in 8th place.)
In the United States, 14% of cancers in men and 20% in women are estimated to be caused by being too heavy.
Being overweight often goes handinhand with diabetes.Twenty years ago there were 30 million people worldwide with diabetes; now there are 250 million.
Diabetes rates among Canada’s First Nations, Inuit and Métis populations are 3 – 5 times higher than the general population.(Among Aboriginal women it’s 5.3 times higher than other Canadians, and among Aboriginal men it’s 3.3 times higher). Studies are showing a link between diabetes in these communities and persistent organic pollutants such as DDT and PCBs in their traditional foods.
Endocrine disruptors are synthetic chemicals or natural substances that can alter the glands, hormones and cellular receptors that make up the endocrine system.They may cause developmental or reproductive problems.
Endocrinedisrupting chemicals can be found in plastics, in the lining of cans, in flame retardants built into many household products, in pesticides, in the coating of store receipts, and in many other products we use on a daily basis.
Most people have approximately two parts per billion of the endocrine disruptor bisphenol A (BPA) in their body at any given time.
Doses of BPA as small as two parts per billion in pregnant mice have led to overweight litters.
Industry’s preferred replacement chemical for BPA is BPS, which is also an endocrinedisrupting chemical.
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