While Americans hold the distinction of being the world’s fattest population

more and more young children around the globe are becoming overweight.

Globalization fuels the world wide expansion of the giants of the American food industry

and as KFC and Whoppers spread to other lands, so do American-style food preferences and portion sizes.

Relatively cheap food, high in nutritionally empty calories is now within the reach of families in developed and developing countries alike.

More families in developing countries now have access to TVs, labor saving devices and the most seductive of all gadgets for children,

video games.

28% of the world’s two billion children are underweight

17% are overweight

Nearly half the world’s children are soon to be either

too fat or too thin.

These two faces of malnutrition are two sides of one coin and carry the same message

Children are not getting the food that supports healthy growth and development

The World Health Organization calls overeating the world’s “fastest growing form of malnourishment.”

For the first time in history, the number of people worldwide who are both overweight and malnourished,

estimated at 1.1 billion,

equals the number who are underweight and malnourished.

The global spread of diet-linked disease presents one of the greatest medical challenges of the 21 st century.

Obesity in China has quadrupled in the past decade

Obesity in the urban middle class in India is epidemic

In Columbia, 41% of adults are overweight.

Parts of Europe, Asia, and South America mirror the US, with reports of childhood obesity doubling in both boys and girls between 1980 and 1996.

Obesity rates are rising among urban Asian children

In 2002, 16% in Thailand

20% in China,

13% in Vietnam.

Worldwide, impoverished urban children are likely to be the fattest future adult generation.

The most recognized corporate logo in China, aside from Chinese companies

is KFC

Next to Santa Claus, the most recognized figure in the world

is Ronald McDonald

In the United States

one-fourth of children under the age of two

don’t eat fruits and vegetables every day

and one-fourth of all vegetables consumed

are french fries.