Obesity would be harmful for the environment
A British study has raised a thorny problem: theobesity would harm the environment. British researchers Phil Edwards and Ian Roberts of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine published their work through the International Epidemiological Association on April 19.
The obese would have a higher than average carbon footprint, which would be due to their higher consumption of food and their more frequent car trips than average.
Here are the calculations: the energy consumed by overweight people would increase greenhouse gas emissions by about 0.17 giga tons per year, according to this study. And compared to an "ordinary" population that includes 3% obese, a population with 40% obese would require 19% more energy expenditure. This extra energy would be needed for food transportation, according to the researchers.
Specifically, for a population of one billion obese, food production and car travel would result in greenhouse gas emissions of 0.4 to 1 Giga-Tonne of carbon dioxide per year.
As a result, the scientists in the study find that maintaining an average body mass index (BMI) would contribute to the health of our planet. More than one billion adults are overweight in the world, and 300 million are suffering fromobesity.
