‘The Mediterranean diet sinks in a sea of obesity- Elisabeth Rosenthal, International Herald Tribune, 25/09/08
Not about the UK or the US, surprisingly Greece has problems with obesity too.
The Mediterranean diet that often uses olive oil, fresh produce and fish, has been associated with longer life spans and lower rates of heart disease and cancer. However, it is now in retreat in its home area and are replaced with fast food. Today in Greece, two-thirds of children are now overweight, and three-quarters of the adult population is overwegiht or obese, the worst rate by far according to the UN.
The Greek government is alarmed by the trend in obesity and its health effects, and have been visiting schools annually for the past few years to weigh children and lecture them on nutrition. ‘“It was the talk of the school,” said Stella Kazazakou, 44, whose son Theodore is 9. “Instead of grades, the moms were comparing cholesterol levels.”‘
Dr. Antonia Trichopoulou, a professor of epidemiology at the University of Athens Medical School, said the problem had grown dramatically with the spread of supermarkets and, especially, convenience foods. Advertising has swooped widely across Greece; there are TV commercials for chips, there are stands of candy at supermarkets.
‘But facing both aggressive convenience food marketing and obesity for the first time, many rural residents here have little resistance to or knowledge of the dangers.
Trichopoulou said that some older people might have even been tolerant of childhood chubbiness because Greece had for so long been a poor nation where hunger was a recurrent problem.
The traditional diet, low in saturated fats and high in nutrients like flavonoids, was based on vegetables, fruit, unrefined grains, olive oil for cooking and for flavoring, and a bit of wine – all consumed on a daily basis.
Fish, nuts, poultry, eggs, cheese and sweets were weekly additions.
Red meat, refined sugar or flour, butter and other oils or fats were consumed rarely, if at all.’
It was surprising to find that a country known for their healthy lifestyle is facing obesity problems and it was refreshing to read on a country other than the UK and US.
The article gives figures on the percentage of obese children, adults and daily cholesterol consumption, and compares them with figures of the US and other European countries, to show the dramatic change in lifestyle over the years. The article explains how obesity had become a problem in Greece and what the government is doing to tackle it, giving a deeper overview of the topic.
Unlike the other International Herald Tribune articles I discussed, the first part of this article was introduced on the front page of the newspaper, and continued onto the main part of the newspaper. Since it was featured on the front page, it has a large possibility of attracting reader’s attentions (though the top article would have attracted the most). The article did not particularly include scientific words that were difficult to understand and it was easy to follow the article. The front page part of the article was placed next to a colour picture of another article (though it looked like it could have been featured for both) and the continuing part of the article featured a picture and a chart making it easier to understand and attract the eye of the reader. Both parts of the article were placed in the middle of the page, the latter part taking a large amount of space so there is a good chance that it would be read by many people.
