There is also a problem similar to this Tracey in China (when you talk of Asian people relating weight to wealth), which they think is partly to do with the one child policy, that they have turned their children into a nation of "Little Emperors" (which is their endearing nickname for them) by giving them food and lots of it and spoil them rotten because it is their only child and the Chinese are very affluent these days to be able to afford everything for them, but apparently Chinese medics are seeng rising numbers of obesity related problems you normally only see in adults and they are working really hard to try to combat this with national sports programs through school etc. There was a fab doco on SBS about it a while back.