The Obesity Era?

[Freedom56]

From the article:

"No one has claimed, or should claim, that any of these ‘roads less taken’ is the one true cause of obesity, to drive out the false idol of individual choice. Neither should we imagine that the existence of alternative theories means that governments can stop trying to forestall a major public-health menace. "

These so called scientists should visit a Costco food court and they'll understand what causes obesity. They will find a direct correlation between the number of combo slices and hot dogs consumed and obesity. Obesity is the number one health issue in America and many other countries that nobody is addressing. It leads to serious health issues and high incidence of misdiagnosis of disease when an overweight or obese person visits a doctor. Look back at photos of people from the 50's and 60's and compare them to photos of people today. It's like we are looking at a totally different species.

Sorry for the rants, I'm getting tired bumping into people on mobility scooters while shopping for food.

 

[Teacher Terry]

We have free fed our dogs big and small for past 15 years. Never had one overweight. They get a treat once a day. We rescued 2 that were overweight and they lost weight by free feeding. I never had a weight problem until I had to go on a beta blocker for my too fast and erratic heartbeat. It’s been a struggle ever since even with exercise and a strict diet. My doctor said that the medication slows down my metabolism. Thankfully I am not obese but not thin like I used to be.

 

[MRG]

I was hoping that you were going to clear it all up for me.

CICO.[emoji41]

 

[omni550]

CICO.[emoji41]

CICO alone doesn't seem to be the issue for the increased weight of the lab animals. Unless, the 'metered' food they are receiving has not been deeply analyzed to determine if it has changed over the years.

omni

 

[RetiredGypsy]

CICO.[emoji41]

Simple as that. Works for people and animals. Pets are adorable, but they're not precious enough to break the laws of thermodynamics.

 

[omni550]

Interesting maps showing world-wide obesity: www.ourworldindata.org/obesity

(There's a 'slider' beneath that allows you to see the changes over time.

omni

 

[RetiredGypsy]

CICO alone doesn't seem to be the issue for the increased weight of the lab animals. Unless, the 'metered' food they are receiving has not been deeply analyzed to determine if it has changed over the years.

omni

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2786923/

That is an interesting read on the attempts and difficulties of standardizing labratory animal diets datingback to the 70s.

 

[Chuckanut]

Yeah, but it's gotta be more than just sugar.

I was skinny as a rail as a kid and drank copious amounts of KoolAid - and I recalling adding a cup of sugar to each half gallon we made. It was like drinking sugar water - no, it WAS drinking sugar water. I also ate toast with cinnamon sugar piled high on it too.

Maybe running around outside all the time kept us slim... I don't know.

Agreed, it's a lot more. In my case it was highly processed carby foods that were the worst. I lost 10 pounds by cutting back sugar. And another 15 pounds when I cut back processed carbs. That's my experience. Take what you wish and leave the rest.

 

[joeea]

IMHO, the fact remains that for 30 years the Feds and the Medical Establishment have been telling people the wrong things about eating and weight control, thus further victimizing people who are struggling to control their weight. Remember, there was a time not that long ago when highly processed sugar bomb cereals were labeled as being healthy for our hearts. That was good advice?

That was advertising by the manufacturers, not advice from the Feds or Medical Establishment.

 

[braumeister]

"Obviously, if [lab] animals are getting heavier along with us, it can’t just be that they’re eating more Snickers bars and driving to work most days. On the contrary, the trend suggests some widely shared cause, beyond the control of individuals, which is contributing to obesity across many species."

Reading the OP, the bolded phrase just leaped out at me.

"Waah! It's not my fault!"

But even if true (and I'm skeptical), there's no reason the individual can't control its effects.

 

[NW-Bound]

When I see deer, elk, fox, lions they're lean. Funny how fighting for survival is a great weight loss tool...

Yes.

The slowest Neanderthal man of the pack was the one the saber-toothed tiger had for a meal.

Come to think about it, in those days, even myopic Neanderthals or homosapiens would not survive long either. When you are nearsighted and cannot spot a threat at a distance, you are doomed.

 

[foxfirev5]

Heck back in high school we couldn't even come up with a kid that weighed over 185 to wrestle at heavy weight. But we did have one with logger genes that made it to the state finals weighing 180 soaking wet. Perhaps it was a side benefit of growing up in Appalachia.

 

[pj.mask]

Per the study original study: ‘of course the animals could be eating more and exercising less’. Seems they only tracked what food they were given and how they were housed - not what they ate and what activity they did.

The author suspects chemical disrupters from modern manufacturing (why I use RO filter for my water and am selective about where and what food I eat) but also things could be after effects from viruses.

Seems a stretch. Could also be lab animals are bred somewhere: if the breeding parents are getting fatter, so would the offspring (less interested in exercise, more into eating everything on their plate).

 

[Chuckanut]

That was advertising by the manufacturers, not advice from the Feds or Medical Establishment.

Umm No.... They paid a very well know heart health organization for the right to put that little check mark on the box. Look up Fruit Loops and the American Heart Association.

 

[Amethyst]

If something "environmental" is causing some people to gain weight, even while eating the same amounts/types of food and exercising just as much, then it strikes me that the "something" is actually increasing our metabolic efficiency. That strikes me as a benign effect if there ever was one!

Why wouldn't that be something we'd want? To consume less, and get the same amount of energy out of it? Isn't that what we'd love for our vehicles, for example?

 

[MRG]

If something "environmental" is causing some people to gain weight, even while eating the same amounts/types of food and exercising just as much, then it strikes me that the "something" is actually increasing our metabolic efficiency. That strikes me as a benign effect if there ever was one!

Why wouldn't that be something we'd want? To consume less, and get the same amount of energy out of it? Isn't that what we'd love for our vehicles, for example?

We're getting better MPG?[emoji23]

 

[Ronstar]

I suspect that processed foods play a huge role in weight gain. Omni's map shows the US to be a leader in obesity. And I suspect that the US is a leader in amount of processed food consumed.

And the pct of obese in the US has increased over the past 50 years as I suspect the amount of processed food consumed has increased as well.

Although CICO is the simple explanation, it may be that calories might not burn off as easily for a person eating a lot of junk food.

 

[Amethyst]

Well, basically, yeah...if the hypotheses about "environmental" (mysterious viruses, something in the water supply, plastic residues in the blood, changes in the gut biome etc.) reasons for weight gain have merit.

I mean...how would we like it, if "environmental" issues were making everyone lose weight while eating and exercising the same? Sure, people who need to lose weight would like it...for a while...until they got dangerously thin, and needed to eat 10,000 calories a day, while lying in bed, just to stay alive.

We're getting better MPG?[emoji23]

 

[NW-Bound]

I dunno.

I suspect that the reason our "car" does not burn any fuel is not because it now gets better "mpg", but rather because it does not get driven, stays in the garage and gets tire dry rot.

 

[Dtail]

Yeah we played outside all the time as kids with a myriad number of versions of the game of baseball.
Didn't come home until dinnertime.

 

[folivier]

While in Alaska this summer we went to a couple sled dog places. Now these are dogs in training for either the Iditarod race or to be used as sled dogs in the winter. Very fit and well cared for, ribs showing! It was funny to hear a number of comments by (I assume dog owners) at how skinny and malnourished they thought these dogs were!
These dogs are athletes comparable to professional marathoners and other athletes. Well fed, well taken care of, treated very humanely. And some people felt sorry for them?
BTW it was awesome to see how excited the dogs became when they knew they would be hooked up to a harness for training.

 

[6miths]

CICO is true for bomb calorimeters but not for living organisms.

Perhaps the easiest illustration of this is embodied in table sugar. A simple disaccharide of fructose and glucose - both C6H12O6 isomers, exactly the same calories. Handled totally differently by the body. Cause dramatically different hormonal responses, stored differently and in different places.

I don't know what the answer is but I do know that CICO is definitely not the entire answer and suspect that the idea has been part of the mindset that has landed us in the crisis we now find ourselves in.

 

[Sunset]

On our recent 15 day cruise, the table next to us was a fellow who probably weighed 600 lbs. He ate appetizers and 3 main plates every night.

He always skipped desert, as he probably was watching his weight

 

[Teacher Terry]

My sweet grandma had a horrible life. After her mom died she became a ward of the state because the dad abandoned the kids. She was 12 and put her in a orphanage that sent her to farms to work like a slave. Her younger sister had it worse. She was obese by 40 and I am sure it helped with her pain. People with serious weight problems maybe are overeating to mask pain.

 

[Amethyst]

I suspect you are right.

The car probably sits at the computer all day and half the night, too.

I dunno.

I suspect that the reason our "car" does not burn any fuel is not because it now gets better "mpg", but rather because it does not get driven, stays in the garage and gets tire dry rot.