"arnaud basdevant" news and stories

The French have long inspired bafflement among researchers (and envy in the rest of the Western world) for their ability to scarf down the sort of high-fat cuisine that is at the heart of their national identity (beef bourguignon, foie gras) without packing on extra pounds or dropping dead, en masse, from heart attacks.

But that appears to be changing.

Faced with the news that the obesity rate in France has almost doubled in the past decade, president Nicolas Sarkozy announced in June that he was setting aside nearly 150 million euros to address the problem of the country's ever-expanding waistline, according to Global Post.

For more than 7,000 French students heading back to school, that means a new program aimed at increasing physical activity. (In English, it translates to "Morning Classes, Afternoon Sports"; no doubt it sounds better in French.)

As for the rest of the country, well...it seems the government is still scratching its head.

The man whose been tapped to lead the charge in France's latest battle of the bulge, Arnaud Basdevant, says the government's plan is to create new medical facilities to treat obesity, to implement some sort of prevention campaign, and, of course, to study the problem further.

The lack of a profound sense of urgency may at first seem like just another charming aspect of the French national character (like a penchant for transit strikes), but here they may have science to back them up. At 14.5 percent, the obesity rate among adults in France is roughly what the American rate was a full 30 years ago. (Today, the U.S. rate is more than twice that.)

So it seems that everyone in France has time for a few more buttery croissants.