Random Numbers: Weight Discrimination, Fatter Americans, Theater Seats, Soda Pricing and What Worries Today’s Englishman
About 60 percent of overweight women and 40 percent of overweight men say that they’ve experienced employment discrimination.
CDC says that the average weight of an adult American increased by more than 24 pounds, or 15 percent, between 1960 and 2000.
From 1900 to 1990, the width of standard U.S. theater seats increased from 19 inches to 21, and in the last 20 years has expanded by another inch. Modern auditoriums now hold only half as many people as similar sized auditoriums built in 1900, according to Theatre Projects Consultants.
Based on a 2006 study, just one can of sugary soda per day could equal 15 pounds of weight gain in one year. A Harvard study found that raising the price of sodas in a cafeteria by 35 percent reduced the sales thereof by 26 percent. A USDA report in July calculated that boosting the price of soft drinks by 20 percent would result in people losing as much as 5 pounds in one year. If all sugary sodas were replaced with water or pure fruit juice, the average adult would take in 37 fewer calories per day, and the average child 43 fewer.
Despite obesity rates that give even Mississippi’s a run for their money, the men of the United Kingdom rank being overweight a mere fourth on the list of things about their personal appearance that cause them concern, being cited in a recent survey by only 37 percent of them. Corpulence was edged out by their third greatest concern: unwanted ear and nose hair, at 38 percent.
Coming in first and second were grey hair, a concern of more than half of all Brit males, and thinning hair, cited by 40 percent, despite the fact that in contrast to obesity, precious few illnesses, and virtually no deaths, have been attributed to hair color or loss or location.
(By Robert S. Wieder for CalorieLab Calorie Counter News):
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