by Rod Hughes from news reports

Apparently, globalization is not just about trade but also about fatty and sugary food.

Some 40% of Costa Rican school-age kids are overweight, a new study by the Autonomous University of Costa Rica (UNA) revealed this week. This figure compares to worrisome ones in the so-called developed countries.

Commenting on the UNA study to the daily newspaper al Dia, Dr. Efraín Artavia, chief of the clinic at the hospital in Alajuela (Costa Rica’s second city) blamed two familiar villains: lack of exercise and unwise diet. He estimated that some children go as long as 12 hours without meaningful exercise.

Costa Rica’s public schools do not offer physical education classes but in an older culture (before the Internet, computer games and fast foods) this was not needed. Kids then burned up rice and beans (fried in hog fat) and other fatty foods by walking to school, playing soccer at school and after classes and working in the family’s fields. Their snacks consisted of natural fruits, sometimes grabbed clandestinely directly from nearby fields

But fast foods are here in a big way in Costa Rica and snacking has bred a wide assortment of candy, sugared soft drinks and salty munchies. Except for the wrapper being in Spanish, snacks differ little from ones kids consumer in the U.S.