Althouse: "Goodbye, metabolic. Let’s get our checkups together. Go! Go! Go! Goodbye, metabolic. Don’t wait till you get sick. No! No! No!"

June 14, 2008

"Goodbye, metabolic. Let’s get our checkups together. Go! Go! Go! Goodbye, metabolic. Don’t wait till you get sick. No! No! No!"

Fighting metabo in Japan.

12 comments:

Ryan said...: さいきん、メタボが多いね、二本に。。。; 6/14/08, 11:24 AM
Paddy O said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 6/14/08, 12:23 PM
Paddy O said...: I assume there are important cultural exemptions allowed.; 6/14/08, 12:24 PM
ddh said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 6/14/08, 1:13 PM
ddh said...: Despite what dmfoiemjsof said, few Japanese show signs of metabolic syndrome. I think the Japanese Government's unease is driven more by concern that rising consumption of meat and bread will make the problem more common in the future. I suspect that the government could do more to improve the Japanese public's health by campaigning to reduce the staggering amount of sodium in the Japanese diet, which is linked to stomach cancer--the most common cancer in Japan.; 6/14/08, 1:19 PM
IgnatzEsq said...: I was wondering how long it would take you to jump on this story (I saw it come out yesterday).

I actually applaud the efforts, but they are WAY too strict here. The prescribed measurements are tiny, and don't take into account height (which makes it even more suspect than BMI measurements).

Why can't anyone (T.V., Movies, Government programs) seem to grasp that there is a wide range of healthy weights, but also a point which it is no longer healthy - and focus only on the actually unhealthy ones. And those healthy weights do NOT require you to be a size 4 or have a 33 inch waist...; 6/14/08, 1:44 PM
Meade said...: Reminds me of "pinch an inch."
But watch that added sugar!; 6/14/08, 3:40 PM
vbspurs said...: Quoting from article:

But because the new state-prescribed limit for male waistlines is a strict 33.5 inches, he had anxiously measured himself at home a couple of days earlier. “I’m on the border,” he said.

Under a national law that came into effect two months ago, companies and local governments must now measure the waistlines of Japanese people between the ages of 40 and 74 as part of their annual checkups. That represents more than 56 million waistlines, or about 44 percent of the entire population.

State prescribed?? National law?? Companies and local governments must measure waistlines??

Thank you, America. I love you.; 6/14/08, 4:07 PM
blake said...: As an American, I would have to double-up on my food intake and go for morbid obesity if they ever tried that crap here.; 6/14/08, 10:40 PM
Anonymous said...: I'm a libertarian, but there should be a law that bans male wastelines over 33.5. Why should I be forced to look at all those fat men with 34 plus wastelines. It's disgusting.

My Japanese friend is fat and she loves shopping in the states. The stores in Japan just don't sell her size. She's a size 8.; 6/15/08, 6:12 AM
Meade said...: “If there’s one number that’s a predictor of mortality, it’s waist circumference,” said Dr. Michael A. Newman, Mr. Russert’s internist.; 6/17/08, 12:15 PM
Meade said...: http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/06/05/for-heart-health-sprints-match-endurance-training/; 6/17/08, 12:22 PM