Numbers!!

One of the things I hate about obesity are statistics. It's practically impossible to put a figure on how many people are obese, as the definition and measurement techniques are not standardized.

The first study that really cuts to the heart of the matters comes from Australia. Their childhood obesity rates have been steadily rising, but they've found that the wrong criteria was applied.
It turns out that the study didn't take into account the level of BMI in children taller for their age. Makes sense, right? Taller kids will be larger kids, which means their BMI threshhold will be higher.


A taller child is biased towards being classified as being fatter than he or she really is and a shorter child the reverse. Now if that sort of thing is happening its going to affect our statistics so we have to go back to the drawing board and find a new measure that was not biased towards height

The second study shows the fallacy of obesity statistics when you rely on self reported statistics. The ASIAN is trumpeting their obestity statistics. It turns out they have dropped from 12.7% in 2007 to 10.9% in 2010. Althought it doesn't look large, it's 15%.

Remember, these are self reported statistics with no control nor any proper method of ensuring the same people responded. Heck, you might have gotten the 15% who are thinner.

IT GOES WITH THE POUND~

"the scarcity of supermarkets in inner-city communities has serious consequences. After shelter, food is the second highest consumer expenditure. And because 25% of retail demand in inner cities is unmet, according to a 1998 study by the Boston Consulting Group, black neighborhoods lose billions of dollars at a faster rate than other communities. In addition, residents who choose to shop within the community spend their dollars inefficiently."

I would go along with this premise. If a business owner doesn't want to open a store in a certain location they might try to squeeze as much money as possible from it.
The part of me that took the biggest exception to the statement is the farmer's markets. Seriously. Why farmer's markets? Some of the benefits:

A) Cheaper prices on produce
B) Most likely locally produced
C) Produce not usually available

But does this help eliminate obesity? Not really. The way to beat obesity is to limit the intake of food.
The number one focus should be on creating more resourceful grocery stores in urban areas.