Obesity

Without wanting to sound flippant, obesity is a huge problem in the United States.

Only last month, another worrying milestone was reached when the proportion of Americans who are obese actually exceeded that of those who are merely overweight.

According to statehealthfacts.org, a staggering 60% of the American population is overweight or obese. The average weight of an adult woman is currently 163 pounds (74kg). Even young children are now routinely screened for cholesterol because 16% (more than one in six) of them are obese.

Oddly enough, obesity is not evenly distributed across the States. The District of Columbia is home to not only the nation's capital, but also the nation's slimmest people - though this too is relative, since fully 52.8% of its inhabitants are overweight. At the other end of the scale there's Kentucky, the home of Kentucky Fried Chicken (rebranded as "KFC" to shake off negative publicity about the poor quality of its food). Two-thirds (66.3%) of Kentuckians are overweight.

Poor nutrition is undoubtedly to blame, but so are huge restaurant portions which are often priced so low that some people rarely eat at home because it would cost them more to prepare their own food than to drive to a restaurant or order a takeaway and eat their fill.

Sedentary, car-oriented lifestyles don't help either: just 31% of all Americans exercise regularly. 39.5% never engage in any form of physical activity.