Economic Crisis Kept Cubans Healthier and Biking
by Eliza Barclay, Washington, D.C. 
on 09.28.07
Ask any Cuban who lived through the "special period" in the 1990s, and they will tell you that it was a terribly difficult time where everyone scrambled just to find enough to eat. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the country went into a severe economic crisis as Soviet subsidies dried up, generating severe food and fuel shortages. But there was a silver lining to the lack of supplies: people were forced to slash their calorie intake and to travel on foot or bicycle.
According to a study published last week in the American Journal of Epidemiology, between 1997 and 2002, deaths in Cuba caused by diabetes declined by 51%, coronary heart disease mortality dropped 35% and stroke mortality by 20%. Obesity in the southern coastal city of Cienfuegos fell from 14.3% in 1991 to 7.2% in 1995.
Another interesting tidbit: now that the economy has relatively recovered, obesity is rebounding. Around 30% of adult Cubans are now overweight and a quarter have a tendency toward obesity, according to a government study. :: Via The Guardian
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Human nature is interesting. We seem programmed to take it easy, even when it isn't good for us.
I was in Cuba two weeks ago.
The people who drive vehicles, large and small, are VERY courteous to cyclists.
Even on intercity roads, a bigrig will slow down and wait behind a cyclist for an opportunity to pass.
But there's a downside of riding a bike in Cuba. Most vehicles spew out a very thick black exhaust, which my travel guide explained as due to "cheaper black market fuel".
And when I say black, I mean black. It's at least 20 times as bad as the thickest diesel exhaust you'd see in Canada.