Average BMI stats for Americans:

http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/pressroom/04news/americans.htm

I just wikied the BMI-graph. It’s very illustrating. Link/a>.

To begin with, I don’t believe in the criteria’s legitimacy, when applied to individuals. For example, a short-legged/long-torso-ed person will be labelled obese whereas a long-legged/short-torso-ed person of same height will be labelled fit. Obviously the latter will weigh less. So, on an individual basis, it doesn’t mean much, unless we compensate for different body styles. Muscle also influences the result, since it weighs more than fat.

Obviously, some people in both the USA and Finland are fat. In many cases it’s for genetic reasons. But, I think one difference is that fat people in Finland are more active than their American counterparts. The reason lies mainly in the infrastructure.

America’s infrastructure encourages driving a car everywhere. And that’s exactly what you’ll find fat Americans doing most of the time…..if they’re not watching TV.

Finland’s infrastructure encourages walking, bike riding and using public transit. For example, you’d be very likely to find an otherwise fat Finn running to catch a bus.

It probably makes a big difference in society, because there seems to be a link between poverty and fitness. In America, a poor person is forced into owning a car; in Finland he is forced into, first chasing after- and then riding a bus

Seems that Americans are more fat. These links say that in 1999-2000, 67% of men and 62% of women had BMI >= 25. While the other link (in Finnish) says that in 2003 54% of Finnish men and 38% of women had BMI >= 25. Of course there’s the 3 years difference, but I don’t believe that so many Americans have lost weight to make any difference.

http://www.obesity.org/subs/fastfacts/obesity_US.shtml
http://www.ktl.fi/portal/suomi/osiot/pressihuone/lehdistotiedotearkisto/tiedotteet_2004/suomalaisten_elintavat_2003/

While we are on average thinner than Americans, that’s still no excuse for over 50% of Finnish guys being fat! Come on guys, there must be a sport that you like or something.

And if we compare the average BMI, Americans have 29.0 and Finnish have 25,4. American health officials call 25 the BMI limit for overweight and 30 for obese.

Having been in Rome recently, I can’t believe that Italians are amongst the thinest in Europe!

Well, the differenceces are so small that … well, it prety much sounds like a non-issue. Up north you perhaps need more fat in order to survive (in the past, Phil) … in Greece … who knows.

“I snagged this from Finnpundit’s blog…”

So you too think that the only good Finn is a dead Finn, the way Finnpundit does? You’re sick!

in october UK was the fattest country in europe. i guess these things change fast. (i noticed the differences in the studies, but anyway. )

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/10/11/nfat11.xml

http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/hi/newsid_6030000/newsid_6036100/6036187.stm

Holy moly, that picture of that baby is gonna give me nightmares tonight!

BTW, the BMI is not exact and should not be taken serious.. it’s just an estimate. It does not conform to individuals, but more as a mass of people…

10. Holy moly, that picture of that baby is gonna give me nightmares tonight!

That passes for photojournalism nowadays. The photo was staged, IIRC, by either AP or Reuters or The New York Times for an article about the poor Chinese being corrupted by western consumption practices.

Heh, it doesn’t take corrupt western consumption practices. Properly breast-fed babies tend to look like that before they learn to run around like headless chickens and their energy budget is back in balance.

very interesting blog!

And with that horrible Finnish cuisine . strudel

Hmphf, I don’t understand, why our perfectly edible cuisine with, say, reindeer fry with lingonberry jam, rye bread or karelian stew and pastries gets dissed by nations eating snails, frogs, little birds or a pie made from yesterdays leftovers or olive oil soaked roadside weeds.

#15

Couldn’t agree more with you antti.

#16

Forgot to sign

Antti:

Ditto: love Finnish food. And I don’t think Finnish food is good just because I was brought up on it. I have gone to Finland with American friends who fell in love with new potatoes with butter and dill, pike perch, and even the sausage and reindeer. And, I don’t care what any other European nation says, you cannot get strawberries and blueberries anywhere else that taste as good as the ones you pick yourself in the Finnish summer.

By the way, one thing about us Finns is that we are a stockier and more muscular than most Europeans. Good for playing hockey But, it skews our national BMI.

We also have a high prevalence of the inuit body type, with short legs and long torso. That body style is more inclined to gain fat around the middle. That, in addition to the fact that torsos weigh more than legs, also skews our national BMI.

I’m not saying that you won’t find belly-over-the-pants drinker types here in Finland. Obviously, those also exist. But, I think most people are actually pretty healthy.

Aside from our vast network of bike paths—which are widely used—our municipalities maintain a whole bunch of cross country skiing trails. They are absolutely packed full of people during the winter!

I can’t wait for some real snow!

In the meantime, check this out….
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061116/ap_on_he_me/anti_obesity_charter

Wow… I thought we were the fattest people in the EU.

.

It makes me wonder how socially failed Finnpundit really is.

I feel pity for you.

Why, there would seem to be an actual kommie klutz kid in the picture.

21. The concept of “social failure” tends to be rather Nordic, as there are great pressures for societal conformism throughout the Nordic countries.

In other parts of the world, differences of opinion tend to be welcomed, as they might provide new insights into how to think about things and, for that matter, how to think.