Last modified on April 9, 2019, at 21:12

Secular Europe and obesity

The World Health Organization (WHO) recently reported recently: Based on the latest estimates in European Union countries, overweight affects 30-70% and obesity affects 10-30% of adults.[1]

From a global perspective, secular Europe is more secular than the rest of the world although it does have a considerable amount of religious immigrants who have higher birth rates (see: Atheist population and Global atheism).

The World Health Organization (WHO) recently reported:

“ Based on the latest estimates in European Union countries, overweight affects 30-70% and obesity affects 10-30% of adults.

Estimates of the number of overweight infants and children in the WHO European Region rose steadily from 1990 to 2008. Over 60% of children who are overweight before puberty will be overweight in early adulthood.[2]

”

For more information please see: Atheism and obesity

Czech Republic and obesity

See also: Czech Republic and obesity

In 2013, the website Expats.cz reported that the Czech Republic was the fattest country in Europe.[3]

From a historical perspective, the Czechs have been characterised as "tolerant and even indifferent towards religion".[4] According to the 2011 census, 34.2% of the Czech population declared they had no religion, 10.3% was Roman Catholic and 10.2% followed other forms of religion both denominational and nondenominational. Furthermore, 45.2% of the population did not answer the question about religion.[5] From 1991 to 2001 and further to 2011 the adherence to Roman Catholicism decreased from 39.0% to 26.8% and then subsequently to 10.3%.[6]

In 2013, the website Expats.cz reported:

“ According to the State of Food and Agriculture 2013 report by the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (www.fao.org), the Czech Republic ranks as the fattest country in Europe, based on the prevalence of obesity among adults. 28.7% of adults in the Czech Republic are considered obese based on the figures, which are dated 2008.[7] ”

Irreligious/nonreligious United Kingdom and obesity

See also: United Kingdom and obesity

Stephen Fry is a British atheist and homosexual. (photo obtained from Wikimedia Commons, see license agreement)

A Eurobarometer poll in 2010 reported that 37% of UK citizens "believed there is a God", 33% believe there is "some sort of spirit or life force" and 25% answered "I don't believe there is any sort of spirit, God or life force".[8]

In 2014, The Telegraph reported:

“ The British are among the most sceptical in the world about religion, a global study has found.

Just over a third of people in the UK believe religion has a positive role to play in our daily lives, compared to a global average of 59 per cent.[9]

”

On May 28, 2014, The Guardian reported on that the United Kingdom is among worst in Western Europe as far as the level of overweight and obese people.[10] In 2014, in the UK, 67% of men and 57% of women were either overweight or obese.[11]

Professor Terence Stephenson in Measuring Up, a report on the nation's obesity crisis by the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges (AoMRC), called Britain "the fat man of Europe".[12]

In May 2014, the British paper The Mirror reported that according to the British medical journal Lancet, British girls are the most overweight girls in Western Europe.[13] In Britain, 29.2% of girls under the age of 20 are classed as excessively heavy with just over 8% meeting the clinical definition of obesity.[14]

In 2015, Mashable reported:

“ Ten new "healthy towns" designed to get people to exercising more, eating healthily and live independently during old age are to be built across the country, NHS England announced on Tuesday.

The towns — comprising more than 76,000 affordable homes — will include fast food-free zones near schools, safe green spaces, "dementia-friendly" streets and accessible GP services.

Designed to tackle obesity and dementia, the towns will have a potential capacity for approximately 170,000 residents.

While some developments are already being built, others will not be completed until 2030, however.

A recent WHO report revealed the extent of Britain's growing obesity crisis, with figures suggesting that 74% of men and 64% of women will be overweight by 2030.[15]

”

On September 2, 2014, the New York Times wrote concerning Britain:

“ In high-income countries, excess weight is the third-leading risk factor in death. The importance of addressing this was brought home again last month with the publication of a new study and editorial, also in The Lancet. The work looked at 22 different cancers in Britain and their association with body mass index (B.M.I.), a simple but more effective measure of obesity than weight alone. The conclusions of the study, which involved a whopping 5.24 million people, were both notable and not entirely unexpected: When adjusted for factors like age and smoking, a higher B.M.I. was associated with a large increase in risk of cancers of the uterus, kidney, gallbladder, and liver, and smaller risk increases for at least six other types of cancer.[16] ”

Britain is the birthplace of Darwinism. Since World War II a majority of the most prominent and vocal defenders of the evolutionary position which employs methodological naturalism have been atheists or agnostics.[17]

UK, alcohol usage and obesity

See also: Atheism and alcoholism

UK and alcohol usage

On July 29, 2014, The Independent reported:

“ The UK is full of heavy drinkers with bad eating habits who are ignorant, intolerant and too nationalistic – so it’s just as well that we are also very polite.

It might sound like a stereotypical list of national traits, but these are the views of more than 5,000 young adults from five different countries who were asked to give their opinion on modern Britain by the British Council.[18]

”

The UK website Alcohol Concern reports:

“ More than 9 million people in England drink more than the recommended daily limits

In England, in 2012 there were 6,490 alcohol-related deaths, a 19% increase compared to 2001

Alcohol is 10% of the UK burden of disease and death, making alcohol one of the three biggest lifestyle risk factors for disease and death in the UK, after smoking and obesity.

An estimated 7.5 million people are unaware of the damage their drinking could be causing

In the UK in 2012-13, there were 1,008,850 hospital admissions related to alcohol consumption where an alcohol-related disease, injury or condition was the primary reason for hospital admission or a secondary diagnosis[19]

”

Heavy drinking and weight gain

Research indicates that heavy drinking may contribute to obesity. For example, a study found that frequent, light drinkers (3 to 7 drinking days per week, 1 drink per drinking day) had lower BMIs than infrequent, but heavier drinkers.[20]

Ireland, irreligion and obesity

See: Ireland, irreligion and obesity

France, irreligion and obesity

See: France, irreligion and obesity

Atheism and obesity

According to the Gallup Inc., "Very religious Americans are more likely to practice healthy behaviors than those who are moderately religious or nonreligious."[21]

See also: Atheism and obesity

The current atheist population mostly resides in East Asia (particularly China) and in secular Europe/Australia primarily among whites.[22] See: Global atheism and Western atheism and race

Communist China has significant problems with obesity (see: China and obesity).

In the United States at the present time, the greater the degree of irreligiosity in a generation, the higher their obesity rate is.

According to the Gallup Inc., "Very religious Americans are more likely to practice healthy behaviors than those who are moderately religious or nonreligious."[23]

In addition, a significant number of prominent atheists are overweight (see: Atheism and obesity).

See also

Various generations and rates of irreligion/obesity:

Notes

  1. ↑ World Health Organization - Regional Office for Europe - The challenge of obesity - quick statistics
  2. ↑ World Health Organization - Regional Office for Europe - The challenge of obesity - quick statistics
  3. ↑ Czech Republic fattest country in Europe
  4. ↑ Richard Felix Staar, Communist regimes in Eastern Europe, Issue 269, p. 90
  5. ↑ Richard Felix Staar, Communist regimes in Eastern Europe, Issue 269, p. 90
  6. ↑ Population by denomination and sex: as measured by 1921, 1930, 1950, 1991 and 2001 censuses (Czech and English). Czech Statistical Office. Retrieved on 2010-03-09.
  7. ↑ Czech Republic fattest country in Europe
  8. ↑ Special Eurobarometer, biotechnology, p. 204". Fieldwork: Jan-Feb 2010.
  9. ↑ UK among most sceptical in world about religion, The Telegraph, 2014
  10. ↑ UK among worst in western Europe for level of overweight and obese people, The Guardian, Sarah Boseley, Wednesday 28 May 2014
  11. ↑ UK among worst in western Europe for level of overweight and obese people, The Guardian, Sarah Boseley, Wednesday 28 May 2014
  12. ↑
  13. ↑ British girls are FATTEST in western Europe claims alarming new research by The Lancet, Mirror, Ben Burrows, May 29, 2014 10:52
  14. ↑ British girls are FATTEST in western Europe claims alarming new research by The Lancet, Mirror, Ben Burrows, May 29, 2014 10:52
  15. ↑ [Britain is building special new towns to tackle the obesity crisis]
  16. ↑ Will China Defeat Obesity? By MARK BITTMANSEPT. 2, 2014
  17. ↑
  18. ↑ Boozy, ignorant, intolerant, but very polite – Britain as others see us
  19. ↑ Statistics on alcohol - Alcohol concern
  20. ↑ Breslow et al. Drinking Patterns and Body Mass Index in Never Smokers: National Health Interview Survey, 1997–2001. Am J Epidemiol 2005;161:368–376.
  21. ↑ https://www.gallup.com/poll/145379/Religious-Americans-Lead-Healthier-Lives.aspx
  22. ↑ A surprising map of where the world’s atheists live, By Max Fisher and Caitlin Dewey, Washington Post, May 23, 2013
  23. ↑ https://www.gallup.com/poll/145379/Religious-Americans-Lead-Healthier-Lives.aspx


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