Obesity, the great plague

As is well known, the human species is the only one that has a very important problem with excess weight. In the rest of animals there is no pathological obesity, it can only appear in physiological situations that require large fat reserves for subsistence. The best known case is that of bears, which eat a lot for the winter deficiency periods and through complex metabolic mechanisms hibernate, without ingesting until the favorable climatic season. Animals, in all cases, adapt to the environment in which they live and feed only what they need to maintain themselves well.

Obesity in the human species probably did not exist in prehistoric times, although in some primitive groups the famous statuettes known as Venus are known, which represented figures of obese women and were perhaps related to the cult of fertility and the nourishment of children.

During the Middle Ages and later, almost until the industrial era of the 19th century, obesity was considered a symbol of power and high social status in societies with nutritional deficiencies.

But in many cultures everyone ate the same type of food and food was distributed fairly equally in general.

In modern Western culture obesity is not considered attractive and, although obesity rates have increased in all social classes, they are much higher in the lower and lower-middle classes.

But in recent decades the situation has changed completely.

Since the Second World War, from 1950 onwards, the number of obese people in the USA went from 10% to 25%, a proportion similar to the economic improvements. And even worse has been the evolution of the 21st century, with around 100 million obese people in the USA. In Mexico, the situation is even worse and in Europe it is around 25% with very negative perspectives, reaching the point of saying (European Society for the Study of Obesity 2015), that in some countries it will reach 100% of people overweight or obese.

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All this indicates that the obesity pandemic has become the first or second cause of disease and death, while malnutrition due to lack of food has decreased in the current century to a much lower level comparatively.

The causes of this situation are complex, but humanity’s future is at stake: either drastic changes or a sad decline.

For more information, consult an endocrinologist.