Globesity: Fat's New Frontier (Full Documentary) Journeyman Pictures
go to original April 25, 2013

Obesity is the scourge of overfed high income countries, right? THINK AGAIN! We weigh up the escalating global epidemic of obesity. In countries where hunger was once the killer, hundreds of millions of people could now be eating themselves to death. (Journeyman Pictures)

The world is getting very fat, very fast. The obesity epidemic has spread to the Third World and it is likely 1 billion people will be obese by 2030. So how did it explode in places that, not so long ago, counted malnutrition and even famine as major concerns? Well it's mostly about the aggressive marketing and low prices of Western fast food. As globalisation and a little more money open up Third World markets, the first to step in are the likes of McDonalds and Coke.

In this global production, we travel to China where the consumption of sugar and oil has sent the national scales spinning; to Brazil where global food companies have fundamentally altered traditional diets; to India where it's predicted 100 million people will soon be suffering diabetes and on to Mexico, where the weight problem is so pressing, stomach reduction surgery is offered for free. The diagnosis is stark: "No country has managed the transition to get rid of hunger without it shifting to obesity" says anti-obesity crusader Barry Popkin.

On the outskirts of Mexico City, the Bravo family is celebrating a birthday. Eating is a way of life here and the bigger the occasion, the bigger the portions. Juan Luis' father died from obesity at 42, and it made him take stock of his own size 56 trousers. Juan Luis has already undergone surgery to reduce the size of his stomach but three years on, unable to control his eating habits, he's packing nappies to go back to hospital. "The thing I fear most is to die on the operating table, or to fail again".

Mexicans are getting fatter faster than any other nation, largely due to their addiction to soft drinks. They drink a queasy 1/2 litre per person per day. Women in colourful cloaks hand out free Cokes to children at a mother's day parade in Chiapas. "Babies have Coca Cola in their bottles instead of a formula" explains Dr Abelardo Avila. "Most of the adult population were malnourished as children and is programmed for food scarcity. When the body enters into a time of food abundance, especially sugar and saturated fat, the damage to the metabolism is brutal". Diabetes is now the primary cause of death in Mexico.

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