So it should be no surprise to anyone when I say Americans have an issue with fat. They are huge, and not just some, over a third are obese. How did this come to pass?
Here's a theory form the realms of the tin foil hat brigade. First off, a bit of background. Climate change has been known about for many decades. The effects of co2 as a temperature increasing gas, since the 1800s. A common fear back in the day was the possibility of a cooling effect in the northern hemisphere. Gulf Stream slowing down and stopping, a book about freezing Arctic air moving south over northern American, the film 'the day after tomorrow' was based on the aforementioned book.
So picture the scene, powerful people sitting around a table and fearing that their nation would become a tundra of ice and snow. You gotta remember this was in a time before the Internet, Mobile phones and satellites. Whilst scientists dedicated to the study of climate change were few and far between.
So some cone head puts some slides on an overhead projector of how America might look, probably slides of northern Canada. They all scratch their heads as to what to do. Then, Binggg!!! Light bulb moment.
What animals live in those conditions? Walruses, seals, polar bears. What to they have to protect them from the cold? Loads of fat. Fat as an insulator and fat as a food source. The problem is solved, make Americans fat and they have a better chance of surviving the cold conditions brought on by climate change.
It's gotten a little out of hand, and science now shows a global warming problem, though there are those who still believe in a global cooling possibility. So when you look at all the fattys waddling around the mall, or struggling to get out of cars, see them not as a diabetic heart attack waiting to happen, but as an extreme result of the good intentions of science and government folk, who simply wanted their people to have the best chance to survive a future climate state.