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According to a team from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, obesity has a significant contribution to global warming and also to the increasingly worrying world food crisis.
The scientists reached the conclusion that obese people consume 18 percent more calories than the average. They are also causing the consumption of large quantities of fuel, which has a direct environmental impact.
Another observation referred to the required calories needed to sustain normal energy, which for obese people is of 1,680 daily calories and another 1,280 calories are needed in order to maintain daily activities – both figures at a fifth more than normal.
A study conducted by the World Health Organization expressed a serious concern that the obese population will cross the 700 million milestone by the year 2015.
One of the countries struggling with the issue is the UK, where nearly a quarter of the adult population are registered in the category. Back in the 1980s the number was half that.
The researchers concluded that obese people are more likely to rely on transportation and put a significant strain on that transport due to their mass, which also leads to price rises and usage.
A rather efficient solution to the issue came in the form of the simple idea of promoting walking and cycling.
The National Obesity Forum responded through its Doctor David Haslam stating that the study might have exaggerated a bit their contribution to the global problems of climate change and rising food prices, which surely present far more complex causes.
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