Half of German adults are overweight and one in five suffers from severe obesity, but news broadcasts prefer to focus on the conflict in Lebanon. Meanwhile, public healthcare funding is being cut, healthy foods are rising in price, and gyms are becoming a luxury. Public health is deteriorating without making headlines.
How data technology could monitor the obesity crisis 📊
Digital health platforms and wearables offer massive data on eating habits and physical activity. However, without public investment in analysis infrastructure, this data remains in private hands. Integrating low-cost sensors in rural and urban areas would allow health systems to be alerted before overweight leads to chronic diseases. The problem is not technical; it is a matter of political priorities.
The luxury gym and the golden fruit: the menu of the new Germany 🏋️
Now it turns out that doing squats costs as much as an opera subscription, and an organic apple is worth as much as a kebab. So, while politicians argue about missiles, millions of Germans decide between paying for the gym or the heating. In the end, the cheap option is to get fat watching TV. And TV, true to its style, prefers to show bombs rather than scales.