Is United States No Longer The Fattest Nation?
This doesn’t mean that Americans are curbing their appetite or exercising more, the rest of the world is just getting fatter. Peter Smith at Good Magazine writes:
It’s not exactly good news, but the United States is no longer the world’s fattest nation. It turns out that the rest of the world is gaining on us, putting on more weight at a faster pace. This is especially true in Pacific island nations and in the Middle East, where the United Arab Emirates Kuwait now represents the world’s fattest industrialized nation. Both regions seem to be struggling to adapt to modern, sedentary lifestyles over a rather short period of time.
The most recent data comes from an exhaustive country-by-country report on obesity from the Imperial College London, Harvard University, and the World Health Organization, which was published in The Lancet. A Body Mass Index (shown on the x and y axis above) is a measure of body fat based…
When Body Fat Affects Report Cards
If you were an elementary school student, which would upset you more: being picked on as the fat kid in class or having the teacher mention it on your report card? The Chicago Tribune reports:
Elmhurst students have long been checked on how long it takes to run a mile or whether they can do a pushup. But another physical fitness assessment tool has some parents fuming — one that aims at finding out whether their kids are too hefty.
A child’s “body mass index,” a computation of body fat based on height and weight, was one of six tests used at Hawthorne Elementary School to determine the physical fitness grade on a student’s progress report.
But that practice ended abruptly Tuesday after about 25 parents met with school officials to express their displeasure with how the BMI data were being used. One mother broke into tears as she described how it affected her…
New Years Resolution, Diets And Obesity
New Years is a celebration of starting over, the time when many people make resolutions to improve the following year. The most popular resolution in America is to lose weight and be more healthy. According to disinformation’s book 50 Facts That Should Change the USA, written by Stephen Fender, it is also the least kept resolution. With Fact #40: 65% of American adults are overweight, 30% are obese, and these proportions are growing, Americans should reconsider how they keep their resolutions throughout the whole year:
65% of American Adults Are Overweight, 30% Are Obese, And These Proportions Are Growing
“I myself am very well in body, mind spirits, quite stout,” an immigrant wrote from Pittsburgh to his brother back in Manchester, England in 1837. “I weigh 182 lbs so you may think how I am, a man of my size. Am very corpulent.” Those were the days—when fat was a sign of success…
Four Reasons To Avoid High Fructose Corn Syrup
Via Yahoo News:
By now, you’ve more than likely seen one of the ads put out by the Corn Refiners Association. The ads tell the story of a “natural” sweetener made from corn. They go on to insinuate that high fructose corn syrup has been unfairly portrayed and that this truly American ingredient is fine in moderation.
Lloyd wrote about this massive $30 million ad campaign last year. The campaign claims that high fructose corn syrup has the “same natural sweeteners as table sugar and honey.” Since then, the association has released a number of ads with the same message.
But when push comes to shove, what are the facts about high fructose corn syrup? How is it made? Is it healthy in moderation to the body and the planet? Here are the facts, so that the next time you’re asked, you can confidently dispel any high fructose corn syrup rumors.
1. The process…
Fat Friends May Make You Fat
What’s the old adage — you are the company you keep? From Reuters:
Americans will keep growing fatter until 42 percent of the nation is considered obese, and having fat friends is part of the problem, researchers said on Thursday.
The prediction by a team of researchers at Harvard University contradicts other experts who say the nation’s obesity rate has peaked at 34 percent of the U.S. population.
The finding is from the same group, led by Nicholas Christakis, that reported in 2007 that if someone’s friend becomes obese, that person’s chances of becoming obese increase by more than half.
They now think this same phenomenon is driving the obesity epidemic, which will climb slowly but steadily for the next 40 years.
Alison Hill, a graduate student at Harvard and the Harvard-Massachusetts Institute of Technology Division of Health Sciences and Technology, said the study is based on the idea that obesity can spread like an…
San Francisco Bans McDonald’s Happy Meal
San Francisco has enacted a law prohibiting restaurants from giving toys away with high-fat and sugary meals, including the American staple: the Happy Meal. This was done in hopes that children won’t opt for unhealthy food just because they receive a toy as well. The New York Daily News reports:
The McDonald’s Happy Meal went the way of Prop. 19 in San Francisco Tuesday when the city’s board of supervisors voted to forbid restaurants from offering toys with meals that contain too much fat and sugar.
Restaurants would also need to provide fruits and vegetables with meals that come with free toys. The city said the measure was an effort to combat childhood obesity.
“We’re part of a movement that is moving forward an agenda of food justice,” Supervisor Eric Mar told the Los Angeles Times. “From San Francisco to New York City, the epidemic of childhood obesity in this country is making our kids sick, particularly…
Are Parents Less Loving Towards Fat Children?
In a nation suffering from a childhood obesity epidemic, this is bad news for the youth of the future: whether or not they intend to be, parents are meaner to their overweight children. TIME writes:
It’s no secret that overweight kids are typically not the most popular kids on the block. Nor is it news that kids can be mean, forming groups of “haves” and “have-nots,” gossiping, ostracizing their chunky classmates.
You’d think that home would be a safe haven for them, but a new study in the journal Obesity reveals that even parents can come down hard on their heftier offspring.
Researchers at the University of North Texas in Denton have found that parents may be less likely to chip in and help their overweight kid buy a car. “No one is going to be surprised that society discriminates against the overweight, but I think it is surprising that it can come from your…
Late Night TV and Web Surfing Can Cause Obesity
Source: CAD-Comic.com (CC)
Although recent research suggests that obesity may be partly genetic, intuitively one feels that being a late night TV couch potato or site surfer can’t help. The LA Times reports on a study showing just that, but with an unexpected twist:
Researchers already know that people who stay up late watching TV, playing video games or surfing the Web have an increased risk of becoming obese. The thought was that all that sedentary awake time amounted to more opportunities to snack, and thus to put on pounds.
But a study published online Monday says another mechanism may be at work too – the additional exposure to light at night messes with one’s circadian rhythm and throws the body’s metabolism out of whack.
To prove that light at night actually causes obesity, researchers from Ohio State University and University of Haifa in Israel kept three groups of mice. One group followed the normal pattern of 16 hours of full light and…
Scientists Report An Array Of Obesity Genes
Well maybe obesity is genetic, after all, per this report from U.S. News & World Report:
Scientists have found genes that appear to play a role in the propensity for obesity.
The findings are reported in two new studies published in the Oct. 10 online edition of Nature Genetics.
In one report, researchers say they have identified 18 gene variants linked to obesity and confirmed the involvement of 14 others. In a second report, the same group of researchers say they have identified 13 gene variants that appear to direct fat to the belly or thighs.
“We have made a big leap forward in identifying new gene variations that contribute to the susceptibility to obesity and susceptibility to store fat more on your hips or more on your waist,” said researcher Ruth Loos, a group leader in the Genetic Aetiology of Obesity Program in the MRC Epidemiology Unit at the Institute of Metabolic Science, in…
Obesity In Children Caused By Common Cold Virus
Photo: Walter Siegmund (CC)
Nothing to do with eating too many high-fructose corn syrup-laden foods and gallons of sugary drinks, of course! Hard to believe this is a serious story, but here it is from Discovery News:
Childhood obesity is not only an epidemic, it may be an infectious disease transmitted by a common cold virus, a new study suggests.
Children exposed to adenovirus-36 were more likely to be obese than were children who had no evidence of infection, according to a study published online Sept. 20 in Pediatrics. The new study is the latest to link the virus to obesity in people. Recent studies of Korean children and both American and Italian adults have shown that obese people are more likely to have antibodies against the virus — a sign of a prior infection — than normal-weight people are.
Adenoviruses are some of the many viruses responsible for causing colds and stomach ailments…
Even Your Pants Are Lying To You?
I don’t believe Disinformation’s first book, the Russ Kick anthology You Are Being Lied To, (now updated as You Are STILL Being Lied To), covered fashion, but this story made me think of it. Wow, as Americans, it seems that we don’t want to accept even the truth about ourselves right beneath our noses. Abram Sauer writes on Esquire:
I’ve never been slim — I played offensive line in high school — but I’m no cow either. (I’m happily a “Russell Crowe” body type.) So I immediately went across the street, bought a tailor’s measuring tape, and trudged from shop to shop, trying on various brands’ casual dress pants. It took just two hours to tear my self-esteem to smithereens and raise some serious questions about what I later learned is called “vanity sizing.”
Your pants have been deceiving you for years. And the lies are compounding:
Read More on Esquire
Michelle Obama Program Blames Sony PlayStation For Making America’s Children Fat
A great post from disinformation friend and neighbor Nicholas Deleon, over at Crunchgear:
Consuming more calories than you use makes you fat. That’s a fact, Jack. Figuring out where these calories come from, OK, that’s a noble endeavor, but let’s not pretend there’s anything secret going on here. Like, you see this graphic here? It’s the winner of some Michelle Obama-headed design contest to help folks figure out how to best fight childhood obesity. And you’ll see the PlayStation completely demonized, as if Sony itself is somehow responsible for little kids packing on the pounds.
The chart, part of the Let’s Move program (and you’ll want to see the full-res version), highlights a few bad guys, including the use of high fructose corn syrup in soda, the launch of Super Size-sized foods at McDonalds, the increase in screen-watching hours, and, yes, the launch of the Sony PlayStation.
Surely Nintendo and Microsoft are thrilled with the award-winning…
Want To Lose Weight? Simple – Drink Water!
Photo: Matthew Bowden (www.digitallyrefreshing.com)
Can it really be this easy? It certainly won’t cost much to try it out (just don’t use bottled water!). From Business Week:
Close the diet books and skip the pills. The latest weight-loss trick may be as simple as gulping a couple of glasses of water before you eat.
A new study found that middle-aged and older adults who drank two cups of water before each meal consumed fewer calories and lost more weight than those who skipped drinking water.
Researchers divided two groups of overweight and obese men and women aged 55 to 75 into two groups: one group was told to follow a low-fat, low-calorie diet; the other group was told to follow the same diet and to drink two cups of water before breakfast, lunch and dinner.
After 12 weeks, those who drank water before meals had lost 15.5 pounds, compared to 11 pounds for the non-water…
Wisconsin’s Answer To The Obesity Crisis: The Krispy Kreme Cheeseburger
They’re trying to persuade us that it’s low-calorie and healthy … come on Wisconsin, this is going to send you straight to the morgue, especially if you add the optional chocolate-covered bacon!
The Fattest States In The Nation
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control is warning of a “major public health threat” as it reports that nine states now have obesity rates exceeding 30% of their population (Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma, Tennessee, and West Virginia). That’s three times as many in just two years. Overall, more than 72 million U.S. adults, or 26.7 percent, are obese. The CDC says:
In every state, more than 15% of adults are obese, and in nine states, over 30% of adults are obese. The medical care costs of obesity in the United States are staggering. In 2008 dollars, these costs totaled about $147 billion.
This echoes the warnings of former Surgeon General Richard Carmona and others in the disinformation documentary Killer At Large: Why Obesity Is America’s Greatest Threat — and it’s getting worse every year. The CDC’s recommendations of what can be done to combat the problem are here — but are they…
McDonald’s Not So Happy Meals
Looks like Mickey D’s is about to undergo another round of public and media lashing now that childhood obesity is a major priority in Washington. As the Los Angeles Times reports, a watchdog group says giving away toys with Happy Meals contributes to childhood obesity and threatens to sue:
Weeks after a Silicon Valley county became the first in the nation to ban toys from McDonald’s Happy Meals and other food promotions aimed at children, a public health watchdog group called on the fast food giant to remove the playthings from all its meal packages.
Citing toys aimed at promoting the latest “Shrek” movie, the Center for Science in the Public Interest said that the plastic promotions lure children into McDonald’s restaurants where they are then likely to order food that is too high in calories, fat and salt.
The organization on Tuesday served the fast food giant with a letter expressing its intent…
Killer At The White House!
Shawn Talbott, the nutritional biochemist behind the disinformation documentary Killer At Large, is taking his film to the White House. Here’s the post from his blog:
I’m VERY excited about my trip to Washington DC tomorrow to participate in Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move! campaign to fight childhood obesity. I’m attending this event through my role as Executive Producer for the Killer At Large film and as part of the advisory board for the Chef & Child Foundation of the American Culinary Foundation (ACF).
It will be a thrill to join more than 50 chefs for the kickoff of the “Chefs Move to Schools” on June 4. This new program is part of Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move! campaign and will be led by White House assistant chef, Sam Kass as a way to take the message of healthy nutrition to schools across America.
For a long time, we have made the Killer At Large documentary about…
A National Outrage: Our Tax Dollars Subsidize Foods That Make Us Fat And Unhealthy
Tony Isaacs for Natural News:
At the same time that our Surgeon General has declared we have an epidemic of obesity, our government is using our tax dollars to cater to special interests and to subsidize the very foods that are making us fat. Thanks to lobbying, Congress chooses to subsidize foods that we’re supposed to eat less of.
Take a look at these numbers which tell how the percentage of federal food subsidies spending is allocated:
* Meat/Dairy – 73.8 percent
* Grains – 13.2 percent
* Sugar/Oil/Starch/Alcohol – 10.7 percent
* Nuts/Legumes – 1.9 percent
* Vegetables/Fruits – 0.4 percentJust 2.3 percent of subsidies go to nuts, legumes, fruits and vegetables while 84.5% goes to meat, dairy, sugar, oil, starch and alcohol. Is it any wonder that a salad often costs you more than a Big Mac?…
[continues at Natural News]
One Nation, Overweight
A serious look at a serious problem – the ever-expanding numbers of Americans who are overweight and obese – arrives on cable TV this evening with CNBC’s documentary One Nation, Overweight. It receives a serious review from Alessandra Stanley in the New York Times, below. (For an alternative, but equally serious, documentary on the topic, disinformation also recommends Killer At Large: Why Obesity Is America’s Greatest Threat.)
There are two Americas.
One is a ruling minority of the healthy few who rely on vegetable gardens, personal trainers and spa getaways to stay fit. The other is the majority of Americans, who are overweight or obese, many of whom risk their own form of assisted living — XXXL clothes, mobility scooters and diabetes treatments that can tip over $50,000 a year.
One Nation Overweight (CNBC)
“One Nation, Overweight” is a CNBC documentary on Tuesday that provides a chilling portrait of a health epidemic that endangers…
Eight New Rules for Fighting Cancer
Via h+ magazine:
Futurist Alex Lightman unveils eight new rules for fighting cancer. Among them: “There are dogs that, if they see or smell cancer, will snarl, bark, and try to bite off the cancerous skin. Strange as it sounds, you actually want to get one of these dogs, and you want your friends to get one too. You want to let the dog sniff you and see you slowly twirl around in all your naked glory at least once a week. Even more importantly, you want a dog that can sniff your urine and bark if you have cancer.”
Other rules:
— “The more obese someone is, the more likelihood he or she will get cancer, particularly cancers of internal organs.” (Though you still need enough fat to absorb essential vitamins…)
— After your mid-60s, you’re less likely to die of cancer each year. “A study of centenarians revealed that fewer than 4% died of cancer…”
— “The sun on your body is your friend for up to 10 minutes a day. After that, it’s trying to kill you.”
Lightman believes cancer should be fought by each of us as individuals. “Cancer is a tax on fat people, lazy people, smokers, and people who consume processed meats and coat their bodies with lots of chemicals. You don’t have to pay this tax, but it does mean changing or eliminating what you eat, drink, smoke, or rub on your skin.”
