Dhe French cuisine delights visitors and is one of the country’s prides, but many people in France now eat unhealthily on a daily basis – and that has consequences. 47.3 percent and thus almost every second person is overweight, 17 percent of the population even to a morbid extent. This is the result of a study by the National Institute for Health and Medical Research (INSERM) and the Montpellier University Hospital. The proportion of morbidly overweight people has been increasing for years. The increase is particularly strong among young people aged 18 to 34.
Managers less affected than workers
According to the researchers, the increase in obesity can be explained primarily by diet, more than by lack of exercise, as the broadcaster France Info reported on Tuesday. The problem is that the proportion of industrially processed food on the menu is increasing. Because one gram of processed food has more calories than the same food prepared at home, it said.
Of course, the question of purchasing power and lack of time are behind the use of ready meals. That’s why policies need to help people make healthier food choices, the researchers said. “People are not addicted to bad food, but they are tempted to buy it because it’s cheaper,” Le Monde newspaper quoted Inserm study leader Annick Fontbonne as saying on Tuesday. “Food of good quality, food that is described as healthy, is usually more expensive.” Executives are therefore significantly less affected by obesity than workers and employees.
According to the study, there is also a regional gradient in overweight in France. The proportion of overweight people is greatest in the north and north-east, while the proportion decreases towards the south. The greater Paris area and the Pays de la Loire region in western France have the fewest people with weight problems.