Remember the book, French Women Don’t Get Fat? Sadly, things have changed. A new report shows 15.1 percent of France’s women are obese and another 26 percent are overweight. Researchers say the average French person has gained almost 7 pounds over the past 12 years, and part of the reason is a change in eating habits and more fast food restaurants in the country.

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As more bistros, brasseries, and cafes go out of business because of a down economy in France, new research finds one restaurant is doing quite well there. France is now the second most profitable market in the world for McDonald’s. The chain has more than 1,000 restaurants in the country, serving more than a million customers a day.

So, is it a coincidence that there are also now bigger waistlines in France? According to the report, 40 percent of all French were obese or overweight in 2005 – a figure that has doubled in less than a decade. And among children under 18 years old, the obesity rate is rising by more than 20 percent a year.

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Anybody out there played any good tricks on anyone? Or have you been fooled today?

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Yes, it’s time to start thinking about New Year’s Eve and of course – bubbly! How about a little game of “Did you know?”

Did You Know?

• A four-ounce glass of champagne has about 75 calories.

• True champagne comes only from the Champagne region of France – just 90 miles northeast of Paris. Just remember this – all champagnes are sparkling wines, but not all sparkling wines are champagnes.

• The label tells you the sweetness of the bubbly. It goes like this:

brut: extremely dry – less than 1.5% sugar
extra sec or extra dry: slightly sweeter – 1.2-2% percent sugar
sec: medium sweet – 1.7-3.5% sugar
demi-sec: sweet – 3.3-5% sugar (dessert wine)
doux: very sweet – over 5% sugar (dessert wine)

Will you indulge in a bit of bubbly as you ring in the New Year?

[Photo Credit: stock.xchng]

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Say it isn’t so… it seems the French can get fat, afterall. As childhood obesity goes up in France, the myth is fading that French people can eat anything and stay thin. So the government is fighting back – it’s considering an increase in sales taxes on extra-fatty, salty or sugary products.

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As if it wasn’t bad enough in the United States – now the obesity epidemic has turned into a worldwide problem. New research shows an alarming number of men and women across the globe are overweight, obese, or have abdominal fat.

The study looked at 168,159 people ages 18 to 80 in 63 countries across five continents. It finds 40 percent of men and 30 percent of women are overweight… plus 24 percent of men and 27 percent of women are obese. The research is published in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association.

Researchers measured participants’ waist circumference (WC) and calculated body mass index (BMI). They found WC was high – 56 percent of men and 71 percent of women had abdominal obesity. And BMI calculations show more than 60 percent of men and 50 percent of women were either overweight or obese.

“Overall there’s a significant increase in the frequency of heart disease and diabetes with increasing waist circumference,” says lead author Beverley Balkau, Ph.D., director of research at INSERM in France. (INSERM is the French equivalent of the U.S. National Institutes of Health.) “For men, each increase of approximately 5.5 inches (14 centimeters) means an increased frequency of about 35 percent for heart disease and for women an increase of approximately six inches (15 centimeters) equates to a 40 percent increase for heart disease. Even in people who are lean, an increasing waist circumference means increasing risk for heart disease and diabetes.”

The rates of obesity varied in different regions, ranging from a low of 7 percent in both men and women in South and East Asia, to 36 percent in Canadian men and women.

Results show the overall frequency of heart disease was 16 percent in men and 13 percent in women. And 13 percent of men and 11 percent of women overall were diagnosed with diabetes.

Researchers say governments need to take more preventive measures to stem the tide of obesity and overweight – for example, by providing more access to physical activity and encouraging people to exercise. If changes aren’t made they fear heart disease and diabetes will become worse.

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