Norway has the highest percentage of overweight men in Europe, according to a new report by the World Health Organizaiton (WHO). The report indicates that more than half of all Norwegian men are too fat. The study, reported Friday in newspaper Dagsavisen, examined results from measures taken of body mass in 30 countries. If the so-called "body mass index" is between 25 and 30, the person being measured is regarded as overweight. If it's over 30, the person is considered fat. Less than 30 percent of men measured in Kazakhstan were deemed overweight, while in Norway, more than 50 percent were. Norwegian women scored better, with around 30 percent falling into the "overweight" category. That compares to a low of 20 percent in Uzbekistan to more than 40 percent in Great Britain. Experts blame the increasingly widespread consumption of so-called "junk food," from hamburgers and french fries to potato chips and sweets, especially in Norway. "It's well known that there's been an increase in weight among both Norwegian men and women in recent years," nutritionist Mette Helvik Morken told Dagsavisen. She worries that this will lead to a jump in health-related problems. Helvik Morken advocates a typically Norwegian approach to the problem: Impose heavy taxes on food with high fat content. "People aren't able to fend off the temptation, and we have too much food available in portions that are too large," Helvik Morken claimed. She thinks Norwegian politicians should impose taxes that would at least double the price of potato chips, chocolate, cakes and fast- food. "Snacks and fast-food should be so much more expensive that people will think twice before buying it," she argues. Chocolate and fast food already is much more expensive in Norway than other countries, however, because of special sugar taxes that already exist and allegedly high costs. A standard menu for a cheeseburger, fries and soft drink at Burger King in Oslo, for example, currently costs NOK 79, or about USD 11.
The study, reported Friday in newspaper Dagsavisen, examined results from measures taken of body mass in 30 countries. If the so-called "body mass index" is between 25 and 30, the person being measured is regarded as overweight.
If it's over 30, the person is considered fat.
Less than 30 percent of men measured in Kazakhstan were deemed overweight, while in Norway, more than 50 percent were.
Norwegian women scored better, with around 30 percent falling into the "overweight" category. That compares to a low of 20 percent in Uzbekistan to more than 40 percent in Great Britain.
Experts blame the increasingly widespread consumption of so-called "junk food," from hamburgers and french fries to potato chips and sweets, especially in Norway.
"It's well known that there's been an increase in weight among both Norwegian men and women in recent years," nutritionist Mette Helvik Morken told Dagsavisen. She worries that this will lead to a jump in health-related problems.
Helvik Morken advocates a typically Norwegian approach to the problem: Impose heavy taxes on food with high fat content.
"People aren't able to fend off the temptation, and we have too much food available in portions that are too large," Helvik Morken claimed.
She thinks Norwegian politicians should impose taxes that would at least double the price of potato chips, chocolate, cakes and fast- food.
"Snacks and fast-food should be so much more expensive that people will think twice before buying it," she argues.
Chocolate and fast food already is much more expensive in Norway than other countries, however, because of special sugar taxes that already exist and allegedly high costs. A standard menu for a cheeseburger, fries and soft drink at Burger King in Oslo, for example, currently costs NOK 79, or about USD 11.
Why not just stick people into gulags? Then the State can make sure they're always healthy.
That's one thing that always gets me when I have online discussions with Europeans, in the States it's generally considered unacceptable to use the tax code to modify the behavior of consenting adults while in Europe it's not only accepted as valid but actively encouraged.
I always point out that that's why they invented laws but that's when the discussion breaks down, apparently it's not OK to make someone a criminal for being overweight in this case but it is OK to price good and services out of the reach of a person so they truly have to *pay* for the 'anti-social(ist)' choices they make.
Oh, and yes, the US does have its share of 'sin' taxes...
A friend of mine sent me this article. He is from the US. We were both discussing how alien this mentality of taxing-to-discipline is. It actually ticked me (and him) off a little, sort of gives the impression that these people are nothing but pawns of the State for it to raise as it sees fit, with no individuality or willpower. In the US, you get health companies offering solutions for overweight individuals; entrepreneurs see an opportunity and seize it (this will no doubt be decried as 'greed'.) In socialist Europe, we see a problem, so we decide to tax people to death, and then blame capitalism for high prices. And then they have the gall to whine about 'artificial' scarcity.
Inquisitor:A friend of mine sent me this article. He is from the US. We were both discussing how alien this mentality of taxing-to-discipline is.
It happens quite often in the US, its just more insidious. Since the tax code in the USA is so incredibly complex, no voter can really pay attention to how it is changed. This gives special interests (such as large corporate powers) the ability to influence the code for their own benefit in ways they could not under a simpler tax system. I would imagine among those lobbying for "junk food taxes" are producers of "healthier" foods. If such laws are passed, I can only imagine how food producers will fight over the definition of what the state decrees as being healthy enough to avoid taxation.
Ain't this interesting. The nation with the most perfect socialist system, the nation with supposedly the most contented people in Europe, is the nation with the most obese men. I believe this is due to the fact that the socialist system is the most anti-masculine system (equating masculinity with independence) in the world, and by forcing the individual to kowtow to the arbitrary whims of the state, the individual is no longer the master of his/her fate. The government gives individuals the Rights, instead of the correct interpretation, stated by Ron Paul, that the Creator (or Nature in Jefferson/Franklin Deism) gives the Rights, and governments function is to guarantee they are not usurped. This "womanization" of society, leads to a great passivity in human beings, and since men can no longer be masters of their own fate, they turn to escapism and overconsumption to relieve the frustration. Thus the obsession with media involvement (film and television) and eating (obesity). Man can no longer realise his pursuit of happiness in the field of reality. His praxeological potency has been castrated by the collectivist state. And that is why men in this most socialist of all societies are chronically obese. The same phenomena is occurring in all the old capitalist societies that have been womanized with the mentality of socialist security. Its the Leviathan State vs Individual Freedom, and 90% are now so brainwashed on the side of the State, that the 10% capitalist remnant is facing total extinction.
The Ron Paul campaign is the natural response of human freedom to this spiritual degradation, as is the Mises Institute and these forum/blog discussions. From little acorns, mighty oaks do grow.
If people are thrown in jail for using cannabis, they should be thrown in jail for being obese. Then most of the socialists (Democrats and Republicans) in America would be in jail.