Whether it is undertakers introducing a new range of extra-large coffins or airlines planning to charge passengers by the kilo, these days our expanding waistlines are rarely out of the news. It is hard to ignore the fact that body shape has changed dramatically over the past few decades. In 1992 about 13 per cent of Americans were clinically obese. Only 10 years later that figure had rocketed to 22 per cent and in the three fattest states, Alabama, Mississippi and West Virginia, it was over 25 per cent. As the UK, Australia and many other western countries follow the US lead, the epidemic of obesity is now seen as one of the developed world's biggest public-health problems. It is tempting to blame fat people for the state they're in. But health officials have recently begun to focusona different culprit: the so-called "obesogenic" environment. In the US, goes the argument, the prevailing culture actually promotes obesity, making an unhealthy lifestyle the default option.
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