newjerseynewsroom.com

BY BOB HOLT

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

Increasing population may eventually deplete the earth’s resources, but a new study finds that the numbers that we already have are taking up too much room.

Researchers from a London school said increasing weight around the world could have the same effect on resources as an extra half a billion people.

According to msnbc.com, the study claims the world’s population weighs 316 million tons, and 17 million of those tons were due to overweight people. And the U.S. makes up one-third of that weight due to obesity, despite comprising only five percent of the world’s population.

Medical Daily reports that the average weight of a person in the world is 136 pounds, while the average U. S. adult weighs 178 pounds.

According to the Sydney Morning Herald, the United Nations predicts there could be 2.3 billion more people on the planet by 2050. The researchers said controlling the population’s fatness may be vital to world food security and ecological sustainability.

Researcher Ian Roberts  the BBC, "When people think about environmental sustainability, they immediately focus on population. Actually, when it comes down to it, it's how much flesh there is on the planet. One of the problems with definitions of obesity is that it fosters a 'them and us' ideal. Actually, we're all getting fatter."

Asia holds 61 per cent of the world's population, but it only has 13 per cent of the world's mass because of obesity.