According to Marquisa LaVelle, a biological anthropologist at the University of Rhode Island, "We're looking at a ticking time bomb of chronic disease," LaVelle says, noting that a recent World Health Organization study found that obesity is now estimated to have increased 50 percent over the past seven to ten years.

"This rapid change cannot be explained by a lack of personal willpower or changes in the human gene pool," Ms. LaVelle added, "because it is happening so fast and has become so widespread. Rather the epidemic is part of a century-long trend of increased growth in height, weight and earlier puberty in children that has been associated with transitions to industrialized lifestyles."

For example, in 1860 girls in England reached puberty between 14 and 15. Now the average age is 12.3. LaVelle studied three generations of women --- grandmothers, mothers, and daughters -- in Michigan and found that the age of puberty had decreased within families by a full two years since 1890. There is also a correlation with fatness. In this case, girls who reach puberty earlier are likely to be chubbier and have heavier children, both sons and daughters.

Among poorer nations, adoption of industrialized foods and food preferences, together with drastically decreased physical activity levels are the basic ingredients for accelerating obesity, especially among children and adolescents, says LaVelle.

Within developing countries, shifts to urbanization, non-manual labor, high calorie foods, and higher levels of sedentary living are all contributing to this growing problem, often in conjunction with undernourished segments of the population. "We assume in developing countries that the problem is one of under-nutrition rather than over-nutrition, but many countries now have both," says LaVelle.

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