"Out of OECD/Western countries, the USA has the highest BMI and obesity rates."
I think this may be misleading.
If you look at obesity rates, the US is an outlier, and around 38% compared to the UK at around 28% (from 2015, I think).
But if you look at overweight rates, the US is pretty close to average.[1] Germany, Canada, the Netherlands all seem to have a slightly higher frequency of overweight people.
I don't know why this is, but it seems like if the difference is in the number of more extreme individuals, then the cultural explanations don't make obvious sense.
I think this may be misleading.
If you look at obesity rates, the US is an outlier, and around 38% compared to the UK at around 28% (from 2015, I think).
But if you look at overweight rates, the US is pretty close to average.[1] Germany, Canada, the Netherlands all seem to have a slightly higher frequency of overweight people.
I don't know why this is, but it seems like if the difference is in the number of more extreme individuals, then the cultural explanations don't make obvious sense.
[1]Page 30 of http://www.oecd.org/sdd/37964873.pdf