Malta has made it to one of the world's most important newspapers, for the wrong reasons.
The New York Times reports how an entire industry has emerged to promote a Mediterranean diet that promises to unlock the secrets of Greek and Italian islanders who stay active into their 100s.
Then there is Malta.
"Throughout the tiny archipelago in the middle of the Mediterranean between Italy and Libya, bulging waistlines are a common sight, spilling over at cafes near the vast battlements from where the islanders’ forebears repelled Ottoman invaders and launched raids on North African ships.
"At breakfast, customers line up for pastizzi, diamond-shaped pastries made with butter and lard and stuffed with ricotta-style cheese or mushy peas and often sold at small, family-run shops. Many return at lunch for timpana pies that are crammed with pasta and meat — and plenty of calories. Candy stores stack their window displays with jumbo packs of chocolates and biscuits, some from Britain, the colonial power here until 1964.
"Outlets serving jumbo hamburgers do a roaring trade."
The newspaper spoke to Parliamentary Secretary Chris Fearne and former Health Minister Godfrey Farrugia on government efforts to tackle the problem, with the former saying obesity is "the biggest challenge” for this generation and the next.
... longevity on Malta could eventually decline as more islanders contract obesity-related diseases at younger ages and die earlier...
Islanders, it reports, reminisce about homemade soups with potatoes dug from their gardens and about a time when seafood was abundant in their diets.
The newspaper admits that Americans are still heavier on average than the Maltese, and the populations of some small island states in the South Pacific are heavier still. But in September, Malta, the smallest European Union country by geographical size and population pulled ahead of the Czech Republic as its most overweight, according to a report from the World Health Organisation.
Life expectancy, at 81.9 years, is still longer than the European Union average and slightly longer than in Greece. But that is lower than other Mediterranean countries including Italy, Spain and Cyprus, and longevity on Malta could eventually decline as more islanders contract obesity-related diseases at younger ages and die earlier, said Josanne Vassallo, an endocrinologist at the University of Malta Medical School.