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Americans are NOT getting fatter
In January, I posted Are Americans really fat?, in which I doubted the story that the news media keeps feeding us, that Americans are getting fatter.
Today in the New York Times is an article about Jeffrey Friedman, an obesity researcher at Rockefeller Univeristy who "argues that contrary to popular opinion, national data do not show Americans growing uniformly fatter."
As an obesity researcher, he might be expected to endorse the prevailing view that obesity in this country is out of control. But Dr. Friedman said he was outraged by the acceptance of what he sees as a hurtful myth, one that encourages people to believe that if you are fat, it is your fault.
The obesity arena "is so political, so rife with misinformation and disinformation," he said.
Dr. Friedman points to careful statistical analyses of the changes in Americans' body weights from 1991 to today by Dr. Katherine Flegal of the National Center for Health Statistics. At the lower end of the weight distribution, nothing has changed, not even by a few pounds. As you move up the scale, a few additional pounds start to show up, but even at midrange, people today are just 6 or 7 pounds heavier than they were in 1991. Only with the massively obese, the very top of the distribution, is there a substantial increase in weight, about 25 to 30 pounds, Dr. Flegal reported.
He also says that people have little control over their weight, and "free will" in dieting is an "illusion." "Body weight, he says, is genetically determined, as tightly regulated as height."
The article doesn't cover the questions I asked in my post from January. I posited four explanations for why Americans might be getting heavier which are never mentioned in the news media.
I think the message is clear, Americans are NOT getting fatter. So news media, please stop telling us this and stop telling us that we are bad people for eating the "wrong" foods. Do some real reporting for a change instead of just repeating the same innaccurate story over and over again.
posted Tuesday, June 08, 2004
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10 Comments:
By Dave S.:
Calico,
Even if the statistics show that there is only a slight increase in basic body weight, you're missing the entire point. Even if the average weight isn't going up, it is still *far* too high. Americans have horrible dietary habits, and a large percentage of americans are obese enough to be unhealthy.
So who cares - even if it isn't going *up*, it certainly isn't at an acceptable point.
And as for the assertion that you can't control your weight - for the majority of americans, that is absolutely untrue. With fitness and healthy eating, you can make a *huge* difference. Heck, I know some people who quit their jobs and cycled across the country coming back in incredible shape and losing *lots* of weight. Maybe your lifestyle doesn't allow you to do that - so change your lifestyle. Do whatever it takes.. if you're serious about it, wake up an hour earlier and get some exercise.
posted at 6/08/2004 1:14 PM
By brando:
Calico......
My reseach leads me to s different conclusion. My test lab was the Cubs game last night. I sat next to a fat woman wedged into her seat. She ate two big bag of peanuts early in the game and returned from the seventh inning strech with huge ice cream cone......
posted at 6/08/2004 1:54 PM
By GirriG:
You might want to read your own sources. Your conclusion "is clear, Americans are NOT getting fatter."
You cite a source who notes that quotes a study stating that heavy Americans are 25-30 lbs heavier than in 1991, those in the middle of the weight distribution are 6-7 lbs heavier, and those are the bottom end are constant. Let's see: two categories are fatter, and one is the same. Your conclusion is not clear. In fact, Friedman says this: "national data do not show Americans growing uniformly fatter;" instead they are, on average, getting fatter but not in a uniformly. But I guess you'll spin data to suit the argument.
posted at 6/08/2004 6:53 PM
By Calico Cat:
Who would have guessed that this post would spark such controversy!
My post from January had various suggestions about the reasons for any alleged weight gains.
I tried to find the data series that was talked about in the article, but couldn't find it online. If anyone has found it online, please email the URL to me, I'd love to look at it and pick it apart.
posted at 6/08/2004 9:25 PM
By GirriG:
Flagel KM. Trends in body weight and overweight in the U.S. population. NUTRITION REVIEWS 54:S97-S100, 1996.
posted at 6/08/2004 10:15 PM
By Calico Cat:
The above citation is something I would have go to a real physical library to find, and it wouldn't contain the actual data set, just a slanted and probably inaccurate analysis of it.
If researchers want their stuff to be "peer reviewed", they should put their data out on the web for anyone to download so we can run our own analyses and draw our own conclusions.
posted at 6/08/2004 10:37 PM
By Coffee:
If you want to be the "peer" of a researcher, you're going to have to start acting like it. Yes, you're actually going to have to get off your butt and go to a library. In fact, you could probably even track down said researcher and ask for his or her data sets.
Many researchers have said that trends towards incresed weight are due not to diet as much as lack of exercise. Case in point-- not wanting to actually visit a library to get the information one needs.
posted at 6/10/2004 1:30 PM
By Mercurior:
you might be interested in these articles
http://www.largesse.net/handouts.html
the SANDY SZWARC articles are good full of facts
posted at 4/03/2006 5:49 PM
By John Poole:
What nobody ever takes into account is that the average height of Americans has risen over an inch since the 1960s. In addition, very few, if any, reports talk about actual body fat percentage and instead just talk about weight.
Knowing that an inch of height can easily add 5 to 10 pounds on a normal person and the fact so many Americans now work out, you have to wonder if we are not more healthy.
I certainly do not remember a gym on every corner growing up.
posted at 5/28/2006 3:37 PM
By John Poole:
What nobody ever takes into account is that the average height of Americans has risen over an inch since the 1960s. In addition, very few, if any, reports talk about actual body fat percentage and instead just talk about weight.
Knowing that an inch of height can easily add 5 to 10 pounds on a normal person and the fact so many Americans now work out, you have to wonder if we are not more healthy.
I certainly do not remember a gym on every corner growing up.
posted at 5/28/2006 3:37 PM
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