Keeping slim is good for health, planet

LONDON, April 21 (UPI) -- Maintaining a healthy body weight is not only good for one's health, it benefits the environment as well, British researchers said.

Phil Edwards and Ian Roberts of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine said because food production is a major contributor to global warming, a lean population, such as in Vietnam, will consume almost 20 percent less food and produce fewer greenhouse gases than a population in which close to 40 percent of people are obese as in the United States.

"When it comes to food consumption, moving about in a heavy body is like driving around in a gas guzzler," the study authors said in a statement.

"The heavier our bodies become the harder and more unpleasant it is to move about in them and the more dependent we become on our cars. Staying slim is good for health and for the environment. We need to be doing a lot more to reverse the global trend towards fatness, and recognize it as a key factor in the battle to reduce emissions and slow climate change."

The findings are published in the International Journal of Epidemiology.