Obese Thais To Shed 10,000 Tonnes In Body Weight

[overherebc]

Many expats here should apply for this campaign.

Many ex-pat are already trying hard. You can see them have the healthy option of Diet coke with their double cheeseburger and double fries.

[sprq]

Amazing how quickly the Thais have acquired an overweight problem. It's really just in the last three or four years that real fatties have appeared all over Bangkok. In the 80s and 90s and early 2000s, an obese Thai was almost impossible to find. Now you see them every day. The signs are very bad indeed, a once beautifully slim people rapidly becoming a bunch of chubbies -- and worse.

[robblok]

Loosing weight is something you should do for yourself not for others. Many foreigners are grossly overweight too. It all comes down to discipline and controlling food and exercise. But some have better genes then others and have to work less on it.

[OZEMADE]

Amazing how quickly the Thais have acquired an overweight problem. It's really just in the last three or four years that real fatties have appeared all over Bangkok. In the 80s and 90s and early 2000s, an obese Thai was almost impossible to find. Now you see them every day. The signs are very bad indeed, a once beautifully slim people rapidly becoming a bunch of chubbies -- and worse.

Well us westerners did introduce all that good tucker, hamburgers, batter, Mc Donalds, Kentucky fried chook to mention a few Then you have the coffee and cake shops and the ice cream outlets, the list goes on. You only have to go into any shopping centres and they are full of western food and young Thai's scoffing all these goodies down.

Like everything else, it wont stop the driving force CASH.

[asean]

17M? Where do they get these stats? 30% of the population? This however from 60 minutes will give most of the answers. Thais have an enormous appetite for sugar. Road stalls, condensed milk, on mango, fruits, with chilli, mixed in noodles and one of the four pots on every spice rack at restaurants. Kids eating soft serves at western fast food outlets, and even mixed surreptitiously into breads. Not just Thailand - the world is being addicted by fructose and sugars in just about everything we have and the worst of all is aspartame, used in all the diet drinks - we simply need to educate and of course that is always frowned upon as the corporate greed controls media. Don't take my word for it... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g2mSPIjDm1w&feature=player_embedded

Just exactly what quack website do you get your aspartame information from? There is more aspartame in a glass of low fat milk than there is in a can of diet coke. Aspartame doesn't even enter your blood stream so how can it affect you? I bet you also say MSG is bad too.

[Jingthing]

Be careful about simplistically linking increasing wealth and obesity.

In the US, obesity is a disease of poverty (the poorer the group, the higher the rate of obesity). As the US gets poorer it also getting more obese at the same time.

Thailand has rapidly developed. Yes look closely at SUGAR, high fructose corn syrup, and "modern" processed foods in general for clues for the increases here. It is definitely going to get worse here, looking at the trends. The plus side I suppose is that over the years it has become easier to get larger "f-rang" sized clothing here!

Sugar is a bigger factor in global obesity than fat. Thailand's sweet tooth culture really needs to be looked at if they want to stop this before it gets to US/UK/Australian proportions.

Edited July 24, 2012 by Jingthing

[Chris Lawrence]

Change advertising methods which should promote a health attitude to consumers. The promotion now is for the sweet/fatty foods. The promotion is also aimed at the young; they have exposure in the media and in the shops to get mum or dad to buy. Get active is also another method.

Other than that good on'em for at least having a go. You have to start somewhere and these type of community challenges wont happen over night.

[Jingthing]

Promoting crash diets is exactly the WRONG approach.

http://www.sugarstacks.com/

Edited July 24, 2012 by Jingthing

[Buchholz]

Who is keeping track of all the weigh-ins?

the same folks that tally the tourist numbers for TAT.

.

[BobfromNYC]

With the proliferation of Bake Shops and fast food restaurants in Thailand they haven't a prayer of reaching their goal. It's as the old saying goes garbage in garbage out. You could in fact just make yourself hungrier and increase your weight by exercising without making a sea change in your diet.

[happysanook]

At least their feet are contacting the ground. What I am seeing are obese kids (many of them under age) riding their motor bikes to 7-11, McDonalds, KFC, market stands which sell sugary drinks, and similar places which contributed to the obesity problems in the west. Even if successful, a 3 month program will have very little overall effect, As long as the culture continues to believe that obesity is a sign of wealth, there will be very little gain (excuse the pun) in the fight against weight loss, especially if this unhealthy lifestyle starts in childhood.

... at least we have options in the states...

almost impossible to buy something at 7-11 without sugar in it. really nasty seeing these kids line up at the slushy machine... the food they serve at the schools is full of fat, almost without exception fried (much of it deep fried). there's one fruit vendor, but the rest is crap...

[Jingthing]

A while back I tried to get a local small grocery to carry No Sugar Oishi green tea (they stocked sugary options of it) as I told them if they stocked, I would buy it and suspected their large foreigner customer base would as well. They tried. They were told only large stores are allowed to be stocked with that flavor. Most 7-11s and Family Marts don't stock it. The sugar thing is indeed institutionalized here.

Edited July 24, 2012 by Jingthing

[connda]

Fat chance that this will be successful -- better start with the little, fat, middle class kids in the big cities.

1 out of 3 in my North Thailand village -- slim chance.

[waza]

[PhilipCook]

Overweight is a more appropriate term. Consider the average weight of people in neighboring countries ie Myanmar and Vietnam compared to Thais. Similar diet and yet Thais are bigger. Its because of economic, availability of low cost food, the need to be lighter skinned which cause people to avoid sunlight/being outdoors. Instead of focusing on being overweight, they should focus on physical activity. Instead of this screaming need to be white(lighter skinned) they should be outdoors enjoying the weather and walking. Whats the difference between Thais and their neighbors? Their neighbors walk.

[connda]

They probably got the numbers by carelessly using BMI as a measure. BMI would have made Gandhi look overweight! That said, Thailand does have its fair share of overweight and even obese persons, but I've seen very few who were morbidly so. A little bit of fat is not such a bad thing as long as you get a little exercise. I'd rather stick to what my mother used to use, body height in centimeters minus 100 is your comfortable weight in Kilos. BMI would like to see me (188 cm) at 70-75 kg which would mean that with all my fat I'd also have to shed most of my muscles.

I just wish that there'd be less sugar in basic foods, people should be able to add sugar to their own liking. Sugar in milk and yogurt should be prohibited, also instant coffee should have sugar free types. Easy to avoid the disgusting Fanta rainbows and pad thai usually gets served with sugar on the side, not mixed in already.

But in general, have people exercise a bit.

When I was in the military, we had a guy who was a serious weight lifter. The kid looked like a Greek god -- sculpted!

After being measured via BMI, he was told he was over weight and was put into the "Fat Boys" exercise programs after work. This kid probably had a 6% fat body composition. He took it in stride and basically ran the group into the ground. Nobody could keep up with him.

So, agreed. If they plan on using BMI to measure fat loss, good luck!

Edited July 24, 2012 by connda

[drdoom6996]

I don't believe that 17 million Thais are 'grossly overweight'. That would be about one in three of the population and you just don't see that. There are obese people here, but nothing compared to most western countries.

1 in 3 is spot on in Rayong province.

I won't say the number is wrong, but the number of just plain fat Thai children has increased exponentionaly in the Pattaya area. IMHO, phones, video games and no exercise would cure most of this for the kids.

[Payboy]

Standing in queue at Krispy Kreme is enough to burn any stubborn excess calories, so I've heard.

[jimbeam1]

17M? Where do they get these stats? 30% of the population? This however from 60 minutes will give most of the answers. Thais have an enormous appetite for sugar. Road stalls, condensed milk, on mango, fruits, with chilli, mixed in noodles and one of the four pots on every spice rack at restaurants. Kids eating soft serves at western fast food outlets, and even mixed surreptitiously into breads. Not just Thailand - the world is being addicted by fructose and sugars in just about everything we have and the worst of all is aspartame, used in all the diet drinks - we simply need to educate and of course that is always frowned upon as the corporate greed controls media. Don't take my word for it...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g2mSPIjDm1w&feature=player_embedded

Ah sugar sandwiches. I remember them well.

jb1

[Ferangled]

It's not hard to see why when you look at the kids eating butter soaked, sugar coated breads for breakfast, brunch, lunch, afternoon snack, dinner, pre-bed snack.

There are students at the school my kids go to, that have elephant feet; that is their legs and calf muscles are bigger than their feet, so it looks like they have elephant feet, just a round mass of flesh contacting the ground.

This can't be healthy.

I think the real obesity issue in Thailand rests firmly with the current generation of school children. I am amazed at how many overweight children there are in Thailand and have seen many examples of the elephant feet phenomenon that you speak of.

What's worse it appears that most parents believe that it is actually healthy for their children to be overweight. I think this harks back to the whole notion that obesity is a sign of wealth and status, traditional in developing countries where food is often scarce. Now however Thailand has plentiful food supplies but these archaic views still exist...

What makes this particularly sad is that when overweight as a child, it places significant strain on the body, the heart and lungs especially. As well as a proper diet, there needs to be a far greater focus on sports and exercise in both schools and at home.

[xavierr]

It's not hard to see why when you look at the kids eating butter soaked, sugar coated breads for breakfast, brunch, lunch, afternoon snack, dinner, pre-bed snack.

There are students at the school my kids go to, that have elephant feet; that is their legs and calf muscles are bigger than their feet, so it looks like they have elephant feet, just a round mass of flesh contacting the ground.

This can't be healthy.

I work at a school and there is no vegetarian food at the cafeteria. Practically all the items available are fattening. As if that was not enough, kids who have money can buy sweets and ice cream.

Edited July 24, 2012 by xavierr

[brianP]

It is a worldly epidemic and costing money in non-productivity and larger sewage facilities.

I was at Disneyland once and a 500 pound woman had a epileptic seizure in the parking lot.

And before the ambulance arrived 6 kids jumped on her and thought it was the newest ride.

Pays to be lean...

[spirit47]

Sugar and white wheat needs Vitamins and Minerals when burning, but they don't have by themself. So if you eat this shit, you ever have minus balance of Vitamins and Minerals, logic. Nearly 100% of the Industrie-Food will damage your body in a long term. Look in a 7eleven, there is nothing without sugar. I see around more and more kids eating this shit, especially them, who want to show, they have money for this.

[brianP]

17M? Where do they get these stats? 30% of the population? This however from 60 minutes will give most of the answers. Thais have an enormous appetite for sugar. Road stalls, condensed milk, on mango, fruits, with chilli, mixed in noodles and one of the four pots on every spice rack at restaurants. Kids eating soft serves at western fast food outlets, and even mixed surreptitiously into breads. Not just Thailand - the world is being addicted by fructose and sugars in just about everything we have and the worst of all is aspartame, used in all the diet drinks - we simply need to educate and of course that is always frowned upon as the corporate greed controls media. Don't take my word for it...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g2mSPIjDm1w&feature=player_embedded

That's the great thing about science. You don't have to believe it for it to be true. People will discount these studies and believe the sugar industry's propaganda, while all the time still becoming obese and dying from Type 2 diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, etc.

The sugar lobby which was powerful enough to prevent the launch of diet Coke and Pepsi for several years in the late 80s to early 90s is still incredibly strong. The obsession with sugar in everything down to even noodles started sometime in the 50s when low cost mass production refineries became available turning sugar from a luxury product to a cheap source of addictive short term gratification. The Sino-Thai sugar barons were allowed to sink their hooks into the country making the population slaves to their sickly poison while they enjoy their mansions and luxurious life styles and have access to good education and dietary knowledge.

My Dear Dad used to say, " there are 3 white powdery substances on the dinner table that are poison, Sugar, Salt, and leave that cocaine alone its mine!

[Payboy]

Obese Thais To Shed 10,000 Tonnes In Body Weight

I'm guessing no one has checked with the obese Thais yet.

[Puccini]

They probably got the numbers by carelessly using BMI as a measure...

"probably" is the operative word. You seem to be the first one who noticed that in the information relased to the press for publication the Public Health Ministry did not define "obese" and "grossly overweight", two terms used apparently to mean the same. Anyway, the BMI formula – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Body_mass_index – as used for Caucasians does not apply to Thais or to Asians in general. The waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) or the waist circumference alone are considered better parameters, and the body fat percentage even more accurate.

[Nisa]

I don't believe that 17 million Thais are 'grossly overweight'. That would be about one in three of the population and you just don't see that. There are obese people here, but nothing compared to most western countries.

They just don't look overweight because you are comparing them to grossly overweight people. It really is amazing the standards they have set for what is considered overweight. It seems rail thin is considered a healthy weight. The funny thing is that studies now show that being thin and what they terms as overweight (not obese) has no bearing on life expectancy. It is actually better to be a bit overweight than underweight.

[orosee]

Did someone do the math? 10, 000 tonnes are 10 million kilos, to be shed by 17 million Thais? That's just over half a Kilo per head, you gain or lose this easily just by drinking water or peeing. I guess they aim low, 3% participation.

Edited July 24, 2012 by Maestro
Deleted nonsensical part of post.

[LuckyLew]

If they were to close down all the western style fast food places,

half the battle would be won. No KFC McD Pizza Hut ........

[Nisa]

Regardless if successful this is a step in the right direction in terms of bringing awareness of a problem.