>Already, 42% of the French population is either overweight or obese,
>according to the National Institute for Health and Medical Research,
>known by its French initials, Inserm. The rate among children and
>adolescents has quadrupled in the last 25 years and has been growing
>almost as fast as in the United States.
>
>"If you look at the statistical curve, we're now where the U.S. was
>in the 1970s," said Olivier Andrault, a food expert with the French
>Union of Consumers. "It means if we do nothing, in a few years the
>French will be as fat as Americans."