Re: Obesity continues to grow

[Guest guest]

Unfortunately most people are too lazy to solve the problem the right way - with

a proper diet and exercise.

Watch more of the (wrong) solutions will come from the pharmaceutical industry.

They will come up with more ways to block calorie absorption, to amp up our

sluggish couch potato metabolisms and will develop more ways to mimic the

benefits of exercise (muscle growth and fat loss) without having to do the hard

work. Of course their solutions always come with unintended negative side

effects.

Ed White

Sandwich, MA USA

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carruthersjam wrote: The

below may be of interest:

Obesity continues to grow

http://www.newscientist.com/channel/health/mg19626355.000-news-review-

2007-obesity-continues-to-grow.html

Plump, well-covered, big-boned. Whatever euphemisms we use, the

inescapable fact is that many of us in the rich and pampered west are

dangerously fat - and remain so, despite our governments'

increasingly panicked pleading to modify our diets and lifestyles.

In November, the World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF) added cancer to

the growing list of health problems caused by obesity, following the

most comprehensive investigation ever undertaken into the links

between diet, lifestyle and cancer.

Previous warnings about diabetes, heart disease and arthritis have

gone largely unheeded, as have health messages such as eating five-a-

day and exercising more. So it is hard to believe the WCRF's

draconian 10-point eating plan, which involves shunning sublime bacon

sandwiches, among other treats, won't go the same way.

What to do? We're too fickle for a " fat tax " to work: put a premium

on butter, and we'll likely switch to cheaper salt-laden carbs, while

slapping a levy on all the baddies risks penalising poorer people,

who already struggle to afford fresh produce.

Perhaps the answer is to target the kids, and make the message bite-

size. Enter the Food Dudes, TV superheroes who aim to beat the burger-

and-fries marketers at their own game. After six episodes some of the

hardiest mini-refusniks are eating their greens - and even loving

them - according to trials in 150 Irish primary schools. All for

around $70 per child, or 30 or so children's meals in the local fast-

food outlet.

In the US, the tide of obesity seems to have stopped rising, so could

those gym memberships finally be paying off? Exercise physiologist

Glenn Gaesser, author of Big Fat Lies, thinks not. His verdict?

There's an inbuilt limit to body weight, ergo " You can only get so

fat. " Hmmm...

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