if you ask anyone what the most obese country in the world is pretty much everyone says this America America America I'd say it's prob be us say the US the US United States but what if I were to tell you that's wrong you see America is actually number 14 in the world with 36% of people being morbidly obese so the question I'm sure you wondering now what is number [Music] one let me introduce you to this country a remote island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean with a population of only 177,000 people but an obesity rate of 55% that means that there's more people here morbidly obese than healthy 91% of the population are overweight diabetes and heart disease are the two main causes of death here ladies and gentlemen let me introduce you to Cook Islands the most obese country on the planet okay I want to check this place out I am so intrigued by it but the problem is it's on the other side of the world like I literally couldn't be any further away however I have found a route which is going to take 46 hours you taking the pit um it's going to be a long couple of days what you're currently seeing is three flights two layovers and 46 hours of flying condensed into 5 Seconds thank you very much okay we've made it look Island now the island itself is absolutely beautiful I got up to a hell of a lot including this party [Music] bus yep literally just a bus with a party on it it was it was mad I worked out a hell of a lot and all in all if I was coming here for a holiday I would have Lov [Music] it but I'm not here for a holiday I'm here to find out why this place is so obese did you know that the Cook Islands is the most obese country in the world h no I did not know you didn't know that yes you did heard it yeah I don't know whether I i' trust that yeah yeah yeah really well I wouldn't be surprised no I didn't know that know that the answers were completely mixed some people knew about the Obesity crisis and some people didn't okay so I've been driving around this island for a while and Visually in person seeing it firsthand I got to say this the statistics are definitely true from normal people to people on mopz to even police officers I'd say two out of every three people I see are quite substantially overweight yeah while I was here I couldn't understand why that was like there was nothing outstanding which made me think oh yeah this is why they're all so obese the diet here was just like at home full English Burgers pizzas and while yes this food isn't necessarily healthy but it's just like everywhere else in the world love star I think police people are exercising this is wrong as well exercise has nothing to do with it either there's tons of gyms on this island and sports is very popular here so what actually is the true reason why this country is the most obese in the world to understand we need to go back in time Cook Islands was once a paradise isolated from the rest of the world where the Islanders were fully self- sustainable fishing and farming their own Foods raw fish vegetables nuts coconuts and fruits were the staple of their diet you see actually only up until recently Cook Islands was a very in shaped country it's only in the last 50 years where the Obesity has just skyrocketed so what is the reason for this Sudden Change one word westernization after building their airport in 1970 tourism exploded in Cook Islands people from New Zealand and Australia flocked here and that started resulting in the locals scrapping the farming and fishing and instead making more money by focusing on accommodating the tourists the problem is now they didn't produce their own food they had to rely on New Zealand and Australia to import it in for them and what type of food does a Western Country like New Zealand and Australia eat crappy unhealthy processed food so in less than 50 years the diet has done a uturn from raw fish and fresh fruit all the crap you see in supermarkets today driving around cook Island right now let me show you the next five food places we see on this trip have you noticed since when you were younger the diet and the eating style change in Cook Islands at all definitely yeah there was more house uh household preparation food you know everyone sat down together and eight and now it's more like burgers and chips right a lot of takeaways just easy food food really more than anything else you guys um do you know where the best place for like traditional food is is there like a restaurant maybe that would no restaurant that does the traditional food everywhere here is now just fast food in fact to the extent that it's actually cheaper to buy a bottle of coke here than a bottle of water but on top of the fact that almost 100% of food here is now imported the Islanders have another problem gentics you see Pacific Islanders have the slowest metabolisms on Earth this is because in the past as an isolated island they had to go long periods of time without food meaning their bodies are genetically programmed to store as much fat as possible so that's it the Western Foods taken over mixed with the extremely slow metabolisms is the reason why this beautiful country is the most obese on the planet