As Obesity Rises, Remote Pacific Islands Plan to Abandon Junk Food according to : The New York Times

More than half of the 20 Pacific island countries and territories monitored by the World Health Organization, including Vanuatu, have taxes for sugar-sweetened beverages, said Wendy Snowdon, a W.H.O. As a cautionary example, they cited Samoa's 2007 ban on imports of turkey tails, a popular food in the Pacific islands that has a high fat content. Passing a more comprehensive ban on junk food imports to Torba could take at least two years, he added, and a final decision on which products to ban would be made by the national government. In 2011, as a condition for joining, the World Trade Organization ordered Samoa to eliminate the ban within a year. "No country in the world has been able to demonstrate reductions in its obesity prevalence, so we're not that different," she said.




Tourist establishments will also be prohibited from serving such food items in all the 13 provinces of the inhabited island. Previous research has already revealed the greater risk of obesity due to consumption of high-calorie food and sugary drinks. Local coconuts, lobsters, and lime juice will serve as the replacement for these sugary items in Vanuatu. NY Times reveal that besides Hong Kong, Vanuatu, a remote island in the Pacific is planning to create a law banning important food, soda and other sugary drinks and food items from being served in government functions. This is the island's move to promote local organic food while reducing the incidences of obesity in the area.

Junk Food Now Responsible for Causing Obesity in the Arctic

Researchers have never before recorded obesity in the Nenet or Khaty populations — groups that have been living hunter-gatherer existences for tens of thousands of years. The problem, according to scientists, is that the "more a person eats sugar, the more he or she needs to feel the taste. Worse, studies show this group can digest carbs "maybe even better than Europeans," which means they really load up when eating them. Photo: Getty Images/iStockphotoIndigenous people in the Arctic who've been eating polar bears since the Stone Age are getting fat for the first time ever, and scientists blame the creep of a Western diet full of nonperishable, sugary junk food. As a result, these nomadic people are getting fat, proving you can flee to the ends of the Earth and still not be safe from modern overprocessed foods.



collected by :Lucy William

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