For perhaps the first time ever, there are more overweight or obese people in the world than people who are underweight. A study that analyzed data collected from 1975 to 2014 involving 19.2 million adults in 186 countries found that the proportion of obese men worldwide tripled to roughly 11 percent. For women, it doubled to 15 percent.

Percentages for underweight people fell during this time period from 14 percent to 9 percent for men and 15 to 10 percent for women.

Counting calories is one way people try to fight back, though obviously with dubious overall results. In countries like the United States and United Kingdom, more than two-thirds of the adult population are obese or overweight.

So researchers at the Royal Society of Public Health are suggesting a greater effort needs to be made to link calorie consumption to calorie expenditure. To wit: It doesn't really matter how many (or how few) calories you consume if you aren't also burning a sufficient number of them.

The Society's idea is to create "activity equivalent" food labeling, with symbols showing how much exercise would be required to burn the calories consumed in a food product.

Would you drink a can of soda if you knew you had to walk half-an-hour to burn it off?

That's what we thought.

The toy is calorie-free

When it comes to meeting healthy calorie counts, almost three-quarters of kids' meals at fast-food restaurants (72 percent) meet the recommended numbers.

(Daily totals vary by age and degree of activity, but for, say, a kid 9-13 years old, it's roughly 1,800-2,200 calories for a boy; 1,600-2,000 for a girl.)

That's the good news, sort of. The bad news, according to new research published in the Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior, is that those meals remain way too high in levels of sodium and saturated fat.

Body of Knowledge

A normal swallow takes eight to 12 seconds, from mouth to stomach.

Get Me That, Stat!

Women are 27 percent more likely to be prescribed antibiotics than men, according to a recent review of 11 studies in 10 countries. For women between ages 35 and 54, the rate rises to 40 percent. Some possible factors: doctors' prescribing habits, gender differences in immunity and how often people visit the doctor.

Number Cruncher

A Wienerschnitzel corn dog (82 grams) contains 250 calories, 153 from fat. It has 17 grams of total fat or 26 percent of the recommended total fat intake for a 2,000-calorie daily diet. It also contains 45 milligrams of cholesterol (15 percent); 490 mg of sodium (20 percent); 15 grams of total carbohydrates (5 percent); 1 g of dietary fiber (4 percent); 1 g of sugar and 7 g of protein.

Doc Talk

Dose sponge: a radiology worker

Phobia of the Week

Chaetophobia: fear of hair. According to studies, one in four men will start becoming brave by age 30. By age 60, two in three men have little to no fear.

Never say Diet

The Major League Eating record for Peeps, those colorful, animal-shaped marshmallows, is 200 in 5 minutes, held by Matthew Stonie. Enough said.

Best Medicine

Three little-known rules for weight-watchers:

1. Calories don't count in foods with uneven edges. For example, if after slicing, the edges of a pie or cake are irregular, these can be "straightened up" and the irregularities consumed with no caloric consequence.

2. Food that lacks flavor lacks calories.

3. Custom-made food — anything prepared especially for you — must be eaten regardless of caloric content. To refrain is simply uncaring and insensitive.

Observation

"A doctor's reputation is made by the number of eminent men who die under his care." — Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950)

Sum Body

According to the Environmental Working Group, an advocacy organization, these are this year's crop of fruits and vegetables most likely to contain pesticide residues, it's so-called "dirty dozen." Wash thoroughly before eating.

1. Strawberries

2. Apples

3. Nectarines

4. Peaches

5. Celery

6. Grapes

7. Cherries

8. Spinach

9. Tomatoes

10. Sweet bell peppers

11. Cherry tomatoes

12. Cucumbers

Med School

Q: How much DNA do you share with a banana?

A: 50 percent

Epitaphs

Here lies Anne Mann; she lived an

Old maid and died an old Mann.

— On a tombstone at Bath Abbey in England

To find out more about Scott LaFee and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

Photo credit: julie corsi