There may be socio-economic reasons for this obesity trend, people with a degree in higher education have an obesity rate that is three times lower than that of high school only people, the rate of obesity among professionals is around half of that among craftsmen, shopkeepers and sedentary occupations.
The increase in the price of French fruit and vegetables may have added to this obesity, in the last 50 years, fresh produce prices have gone up by 33 percent, while the price of cooking oils has dropped by half.
The wealthiest quarter of the 60 million French population eats three times more fruit and vegetables than the poorest quarter; only 10.2 percent of the French population follows the five pieces of fruit and veg a day rule. In a survey of 3,000 people interviewed, 44.5 percent had not eaten any fruit at all the day before.
This book made the New York Times bestseller list for 22 weeks and may have an element of truth about it if one looks only at the wealthier section of French society. As a whole though the French population is getting considerably fatter; a study by the Paris-based, National Institute of Health and Medical Research stated that "the number of obese French adults rose to 11 percent in 2003 from 8 percent in 1997", 
