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Are Americans really fat?

I'm sure you've heard a million times that Americans are getting fatter. It will often come with a rebuke that it's because we are eating unhealthy foods.

Unfortunately, our news media just reports this stuff without attempting to find the real truth behind the story.

(1) When they say that xx% of Americans are "overweight" or "obese" compared to how it was in the past, I want to know what "overweight" or "obese" means, and if these definitions have changed over the years.

(2) Different races have different average weights. Is the changing racial compositon of America contributing to the higher percentage of Americans who are "overweight".

(3) One's weight is largely determine by genetics. Are heavier people having more children than thin people? If so, this would be contributing to the alleged increasing heaviness of Americans.

(4) Weightlifting is much more popular today than it was a generation ago. All this weightlifting is building muscles that adds to people's weight. The definition for "overweight" is based only on height/weight relationship, it ignores how much of that weight is muscle.

When you factor in all of these questions, I actually doubt that there is any problem with the American diet or anything like that. And if there is, maybe it's because Americans are doing what the health authorities are telling them. Dr. Atkins' contrarian high fat/high protein diet causes people to lose weight. Our health authorities obviously don't have a clue.

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And finally, apologies for skipping a week without writing anything. I guess I've been pre-occupied with other pursuits.

posted Sunday, January 04, 2004