In developing the McDonald's theory of globalization, New York Times columnist Thomas Freidman may have overlooked an angle.  According to the Shanghai Daily, nearly 40 million Chinese are extremely fat.  Since China's population is over 1 billion people, they still have a lot of eating to do to catch up to Americans on a per-capita basis.  Still, it's interesting to see an article about Chinese health patterns.  Correlation does not imply causation, but I have to wonder if globalization and the growth of Western business in China (including McDonalds) is impacting Chinese health.  It remains to be seen if advances in health care will outweigh the disadvantages of a global economy, but at least the Chinese can overcome any depressing news with a nice Value Meal.