农村体重增长居然是全球肥胖率上升的主力军

Rates of obesity worldwide have nearly tripled since 1975, and the prevailing belief is that city living is to blame. But a major study that covers 112 million adults suggests that weight gain in rural areas is responsible for much of this increase.

自1975年以来，全球肥胖率几乎增加了2倍。究其原因，人们普遍认为城市生活难辞其咎。但一项涵盖1.12亿成年人的重大研究表明，农村地区的体重增长才是肥胖率上升的主力军。

Members of the NCD Risk Factor Collaboration - an international group of health scientists - analyzed over 2,000 studies of how body mass index (BMI) has changed around the world from 1985 to 2017. (BMI is a height-to-weight ratio that is a popular measure of obesity, though not without its flaws.) The results, published today in the journal Nature, show that during this time period, more than 55 percent of the rise in BMI globally came from rural populations - specifically rural populations in emerging economies, which include many places in Latin America, Asia, and the Middle East. "In the world as a whole, BMI has been going up faster in rural areas than in urban areas," study co-author Majid Ezzati, an expert in global environmental health at Imperial College London, said in a press briefing.

传染性疾病风险因子协会的成员--由卫生科学家组成的国际协会--就2000多项研究分析了1985年至2017年全球体重指数的变化。（体重指数指的是身高体重比例，是肥胖症的流行指标，但该指标也存在缺陷。）分析结果于今日发表在《自然》杂志上，表明：在这段时间内，全球55%以上的体重指数上升来自于农村地区--特别是新兴市场国家的农村地区，包括拉丁美洲、亚洲和中东等地区。"全世界范围内，农村地区体重指数的上升速度高于城市地区，"研究的共同作者马基德·伊扎提（Majid Ezzati）在一次资讯发布会上说道。他是帝国理工学院全球环境健康领域的专家。

This directly contradicts the previous belief that people living in rural areas are less likely to gain weight because they eat healthier, uNPRocessed foods and do more physical labor. That may have been the case, continued Ezzati, but as rural areas industrialize, life starts to change. People don't need to walk to fetch water because they have running water. They don't need to walk to other places because roads are being built and cars are more common. These changes bring a lot of health benefits, added Ezzati, "but they also mean less moving around and less physical labor."

这与先前的观念恰恰相反--生活在农村地区的人不太可能增重，因为他们吃的更健康（都是未加工的食物）、干的体力活也更多。以前可能是这种情况，伊扎提继续道，但随着农村地区工业化，他们的生活也发生了变化。他们不需要走很远的路去提水，因为自来水已接通。他们也不需要走到其它地方，因为道路已修建、汽车已成常态。这些变化带来了很多健康益处，伊扎提补充道，"但这也意味着运动和体力活的减少。"

As rural areas become wealthier, people living there can afford more food and, often, less healthy food. This means they're eating the same processed foods as their urban counterparts, without the other benefits of city living that make it easier to be physically active. Notably, there are more sports facilities and gyms in urban areas, and far more opportunities to walk.

随着农村地区日渐富裕，村民们也有能力购买更多的食物，通常是不那么健康的食物。这意味着他们和城里人一样，吃的也是加工过的食物；但与城里人不同的是，他们更难获得锻炼身体的益处，因为城市里有更多的运动设施及健身房、步行的机会也更多。