Obesity Rate Among Japanese Men Increases

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Materials

November 08, 2020

Intermediate

Exercise 1

Vocabulary

obesity

Noun

oʊˈbiːsɪtiː

the state of being very overweight

Obesity has become a social problem in this country.

An unhealthy diet can lead to obesity.

household

Noun

ˈhaʊsˌhoʊld

a home and the people who live in it

Most American households have a car.

The number of single-mother households is increasing.

I'm the eldest person in the household.

The government of Ireland hopes to encourage households to generate their own electricity using solar panels.

height

Noun

haɪt

how tall or high someone or something is

In basketball, a player's height is very important.

The airplane was flying at a height of 35,000 feet.

The height of Mount Everest is around 29,000 feet above sea level.

I'm really afraid of heights.

measure

Verb

ˈmɛʒər

to find the size, amount, speed, etc. of something

We need to measure the size of the room to see if the table will fit there.

A thermometer measures temperature.

This measures the amount of moisture in the air.

The marker measures the depth of the river.

diet

Noun

ˈdaɪət

the food that one usually eats

Fruits and vegetables are an important part of a balanced diet.

A healthy diet will help you lose weight.

rate

Noun

reɪt

a measurement of how often something happens or how common it is

The city's unemployment rate is increasing.

The teen birth rate has dropped.

The mortality rate in this country has fallen.

Exercise 2

Article

AI Generated Audio––:–– / ––:––

Obesity Rate Among Japanese Men Increases

The percentage of adult Japanese men who are obese has increased over the past few years, according to a survey by the country's government.

Kyodo reports that the percentage of Japanese men with a body mass index (BMI) of over 25 didn't change much between 2009 and 2013. However, survey data from 2,836 households in 2019 found that 33% of adult Japanese men have a BMI of over 25. This is an increase of 4.4 percentage points from 2013.

BMI uses body weight and height to measure if a person's weight is healthy. The Japanese government defines obesity as having a BMI of 25. However, the World Health Organization defines a BMI of over 25 as overweight, and a BMI of over 30 as obese.

The research also found 39.7% of men in their 40s and 39.2% of men in their 50s were obese according to Japan's definition.

However, 39.3% of obese men said they had no interest in improving their diet, or thought they should but didn't plan to. The survey found that 22.3% of Japanese women are obese, and among them, 33.1% aren't interested in changing how they eat.

Among all adults, including those who are not obese, 41.6% of men and 52.8% of women said they were too busy to eat better or exercise more.

Japan's obesity rate is still lower than those in other countries. Using a BMI of over 30 for obesity, 42.4% of US adults were obese in 2018. And according to the Centers for Disease Control, there is little or no difference in obesity rates among men and women in the US.