Bad habits from Americans

Along with their taste in food, Americans have brought the whole picture described in other articles to the "Old Continent": fad diets and related-weight-loss problems, dieting pills and dietary supplements. According to the International Obesity Task Force, the prevalence of obesity has grown by up by 10 to 40 percent in most European countries from 1993 to 2003. This is an alarming figure. Thirty percent of people living in the European Union are overweight and more than one in ten is now obese, according to the EASO. Not surprisingly, a war against obesity has begun. European officials are worried specifically about childhood obesity. Children with "weight problems" are three to five times more likely to suffer a stroke or a heart attack before the age of 65. Although this problem is not as urgent as the American issue, the forecasts are frightening.

The battle against obesity

When obesity is on the agenda,

• fast food and unhealthy modern eating habits (too many sweets and refined foods)
• a sedentary lifestyle

are often quoted. Officials of the European Union are worried because related problems such as diabetes, stroke and heart disease follow obesity. Seventy thousand cases are added each year, while heart disorders are already the leading cause of death in the European Union. Half of all deaths are caused by heart disease.

Since the issue has become so urgent, the EU has applied a "battle plan" against obesity for the next ten years. At the recent European Congress of Obesity, experts decided that the new battle should be fought on four fronts:

1. governments
2. NGOs
3. food industry
4. consumers themselves.

Additionally, two pathways can be involved in this effort:

• television
• the computer industry

Across all the nations of the EU, they will promote a well-balanced eating regimen, physical activity and regular exercise (including at schools). A clear link to fast food and snacks (including biscuits, high-carbohydrate foods and fatty products such as burgers) has not been precisely established. It is argued, however, that abandoning established healthy habits has proved a significant factor in causing overweight. Obesity has been declared public enemy number one in the European Union.

Portugal case study

Anorexic teenagers and obese middle-aged people: this is happening nowadays only in Portugal. It is a strange situation, the least to say. Nearly two-fifths of all Portuguese of 18 to 65 are overweight. No fewer than 15% are already obese while over 8% of all 18- and 19-year-olds are extremely thin (twice as many as in the same age group in 1995). These facts were released in a study published in September 2004 and cited by Agency France-Press.

What do these two statistics disclose?

1. on the one hand, the health of all economically active Portuguese (those between the ages of 18 and 65) is seriously threatened by heart disease, stroke and diabetes
2. on the other hand, many Portuguese teenagers suffer from eating disorders. They are repelled by obesity just as they are obsessed with their looks).

As the Portuguese have changed their eating habits, adding more sweets and fatty foods to their meals, their obesity range increased dramatically. A review of their eating habits reveals that many people go to work without eating breakfast. The ten o'clock morning "coffee break", usually with plenty of sweet cakes, rolls and croissants, is followed by lunch, regularly taken at one o’clock. This consists of fish or white meat (cod, veal, pork, chicken, rabbit) and potatoes. Raw vegetables are rarely eaten. Another coffee break follows at around five o’clock. The staple of dinner at eight is meat. The Portuguese frequently eat soup, but after a meal, not before. The famous caldo verde soup is preferred, in spite of the fact that it contains a potentially lethal piece of cholesterol-rich sausage.

Besides, Portugal has been invaded by fast food, especially by hamburger outlets such as McDonalds, which are found not only in large cities, but also in small towns. Other fast-food outlets only make the food situation worse for the Portuguese.