It seems obvious that when a culture can eat more than it needs to survive, many people will.. When even the poorest people can afford to be fat, they are happy.

Researchers from Rice University and the University of Colorado did an analysis of survey results and found that while growth of developing countries may improve conditions such as malnutrition and infectious disease, it may also increase obesity among people with lower socio-economic status.  This troubles them, though it is unclear why. Being fat is better than starving.

They examined data from the World Health Survey, an initiative of the World Health Organization aimed at collecting high-quality health data for people across all regions of the world. The researchers looked at data from 67 of the 70 countries surveyed during 2002 and 2003.

People with higher socio-economic status in developing countries were more likely to be obese, whereas people with higher socio-economic status living in developed countries are less likely - yes, America has created the ultimate society. It used to be that only rich people could afford to be fat and now only rich people can afford to be thin.  Because poverty is ingrained in poorer countries, being fat is a positive.

"In the developing world, being large comes with its own status and prestige, whereas in the developed world, being large is stigmatized," said Rice sociology professor Justin Denney, who co-authored the study with University of Colorado sociology professors Fred Pampel and Patrick Krueger.. "There's sort of a switching of cultural ideals, and these results are consistent with that."

Denney said the reasons for increased incidence of obesity among the socio-economically disadvantaged living in developed countries are twofold: There is a lack of education about health issues and a lack of access to high-quality, healthy (and in many cases, more expensive) food.

"Unfortunately, our research suggests that if a country develops to the state of the U.S., in all likelihood you'll see the same thing that's happening here in our country," Denney said. "Obesity is a major problem here in the U.S., but primarily for the most disadvantaged segments of the population." 

It used to be developing countries wanted any food, now we have to teach them to only ask for Whole Foods.