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These three serious problems are also rapidly creeping into middle- and low-income countries, too.
The February 3, 2011 MD article 'Obesity Is Up; Hypertension, Cholesterol Down' quotes Dr. Majid Ezzati, from the Harvard School of Public Health and the Imperial College London.
Dr. Ezzati, one of the researchers of one of the three papers stated, 'The good news is that there have been impressive declines in blood pressure in many high-income countries and in cholesterol in many Western high-income countries.'
He adds, 'The bad news is the rise in BMI in most places, by large amounts in some, especially in many middle income countries.'
According to these papers, the United States has the highest body mass index (BMI) in the world. In other words, Americans are, overall, the most overweight and obese (excessively overweight) people in the world.
The average BMI in the United States, in 2008, was over 28 for both men and women, where a BMI of 25.0-29.9 is considered overweight and a BMI of over 30.0 is considered obese.
New Zealand took second place, according to the Lancet papers, while Japan took last place in the world (they are the least overweight or obese).
Read more of the before-mentioned WebMD article for additional information on obesity, cholesterol, blood pressure around the world.
