Obesity has boomed in industrialized nations over the last century, and a common explanation is that we’ve become more sedentary, so we burn fewer calories. But a major new study (2025) finds that this is not the case. Global researchers compared the daily total calorie burn for people from 34 different countries and cultures around the world––from hunter-gatherers and farming populations with low obesity rates, to people in sedentary jobs in Western countries, where obesity is widespread––and found that, surprisingly, the total calories burned per day is really similar across these populations, even though their activity levels are extremely different. The findings have big implications for obesity. If differences in calorie burn can’t explain why some countries have higher obesity rates than others, then it must be diet. The big question becomes, what is it about the diet? The researchers argue that the public health message should focus on changing what’s on our plates.
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