BRAZIL, OBESE OR ANOREXIC?: The New York Times had a typical trend piece this Sunday on the rising cult of thinness in Brazil and the consequent tragic uptick in anorexia among young women. The article devotes much space to contrasting this development with Brazillian culture's usual tendency to consider a plumper physique more beautiful. Ironically the Times makes no mention of this article they ran almost two years ago to the day. The headline? "Beaches for the Svelte, Where the Calories Are Showing." According to this piece, Brazil is experiencing an upsurge in obesity. So, it would seem that the Times has both declared Brazilians to be fond of thinness and fatness, and of getting thinner and fatter. The easy point to make would be that cultural trend pieces are so shallow that it stands to reason they would completely contradict each other within the same newspaper. But, upon closer examination, the two articles are actually consistent with the same larger trend. Increasing wealth and globalization is making Brazil more Western. Being able to afford an infinite amount of food makes them grow larger and the culture snaps back in response. Or is that thinness becomes prized, and the unattainablity of it causes eating disorders, both obesity and anorexia? It would take a greater expert than me to unravel the causality, but looking at America as well, the correlation is clear. As increasing wealth begins to cause some of those problems throughout the developing world, it will present a serious challenge for global health activists.
--Ben Adler
