Readers Digest has just released an interesting survey of dieting and weight preferences of 16,000 people around the globe.

In Finland, 83% of men and women have dieted at least once, vs 72% in the US and 21% in India. In Finland, the attempts to diet have worked, slashing heart disease deaths in the working-age population by 80 percent over the past three decades, adding nearly 10 years to the average Finn’s life.

Question: Have you ever dieted at least once to lose weight? Readers digest surveyAmerica’s not doing so well in curbing obesity, in spite of our diet regimens. However we did score high in not being happy with our husbands’ weight.

The United States won the price of being the country where wives most want their husbands to lose weight.

More than half (51 percent) of married American women wish their husbands were thinner. Conversely, 47 percent of married American men desire the same of their mates.

The irony, according to Readers Digest: A full 68 percent of women said our culture is overly focused on weight. The challenge from Readers Digest is whether we hold our husbands to a higher standard that we hold ourselves.

Doubly ironic is the finding that American women also lead in saying that being overweight (58%) presents extra problems for women, vs 37% of American men. No other country showed this gender disparity. With the exception of China both men and women agreed that being overweight was a problem for both genders.

Australia and Mexico led in saying that being fat interferes with a person’s sex life, with 52% agreeing. Russia followed at 51%. In all countries men outnumbered women in affirming that pounds got in the way of good sex. Specifically in the US, 51% of men and 41% of women say that being fat (Readers Digest terminology, not mine) interferes with one’s sex life. Anne