NO they arent. The National Institutes of Health has an ongoing research project on obesity. You may be able to find some good information by sifting through this:

http://www.obesityresearch.nih.gov/

The World Health Organization also has some good info:

http://www.who.int/topics/obesity/en/

The Centers for Disease Control has actual statistics (the source for the MSN obesity map):

http://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/dnpa/obesity/