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The Global Obesity Epidemic

Skeptical Greg

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Skeptical Greg
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Gary Taubes at Low Carb Houston, 2018

A long presentation, but very thought provoking IMO

The global obesity epidemic: Is dietary and animal fat the culprit?
Evidence based on 20 years of investigative journalism.



The World Health Organization contends " The fundamental cause of
obesity and overweight is energy imbalance between calories consumed
and calories expended. "

Ultimately, CICO is valid.

However, can we continue to ignore the source of the calories, as these diseases continue to rise in spite of the diet and exercise guidelines
being recommended by the mainstream medical community for the last 50 or so years?
 
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Article in Discover Mag:

One Big Fat Truth


The simplest explanation for obesity — too many calories in and too few calories spent — isn’t as exciting or exotic as some of the unproven ideas out there, which may explain in part why it’s so doggedly ignored. But there’s another reason for its relative unpopularity: Researchers want to avoid blaming and shaming
Click to expand...


To be fair, the other causes of obesity currently under investigation are not figments of the researchers’ imaginations. Yes, there is a difference in how your body processes a diet that’s very high in refined carbohydrates. The microbiome does affect how your body absorbs calories. Some people are genetically predisposed to having a tougher time managing their weight. The issue, says Lichtenstein, is the magnitude. These effects are real but small, and swamped by the simple equation no one really likes: Calories in > calories out = weight gain
Click to expand...
 
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One thing I noticed in Hawaii (a huge melting pot from both sides of the Pacific Ocean) is how fat all the Americans seemed. Admittedly, many of the islanders were pretty hefty also, even more so.
 
Eating too much, exercising too little, bad parenting, that accounts for almost all obesity worldwide.
 
Lack of gut microbiome diversity would be my guess: it is something that happens when animals live together in close proximity.
 
Cheetah said:
Article in Discover Mag:

One Big Fat Truth
Click to expand...
The writer of that article seems to fundamentally misunderstand obesity research. No obesity researcher is trying to find an alternative to "too many calories in and too few calories spent". There is consensus on that. What they're doing is work out the details of how exactly that works in individuals.
 
Although I won't say that certain foods (animal fat, sugar, you name it) don't play a role, IMO obesity stems largely from the fact that humans, for the most part did not evolve in an environment where food was continuously plentiful. If you're never quite sure where your next meal is coming from, there is survival value in packing on some fat when food is available. It's famine insurance.

However, when food is readily available all the time, and you just keep getting fatter, it's obviously not healthy.
 
It’s all part of a plot by the Atlantan Sharks to make humans fatter, and therefore more edible.
 
It is interesting that through most of the history of our species we had problems with not getting enough to eat, and now it is just the opposite. Cheap calories abound.
 
Calories weren't that much cheaper in the few decades prior to the 70's when the obesity and T2D numbers started to climb.

However, the 70's are when the US Government began to publish official dietary guidelines that included lowering fat, and increasing carbohydrates.

Of course they gave a lot of word play to healthy fruits and vegetables, but that is not what the fast food and giant food processing companies ran with and filled up 90% of grocery store shelves with.
 
What I find amazing is that we are not all fat or all obese, to keep pretty much the same weight all year despite changes in activity levels and fairly arbitrary intake requires some pretty good matching of appetite and basal metabolic rate. Even a few calories mismatch on a daily basis would accumulate over time.

I blame cannabis and the munchies for the obesity epidemic; when everyone smoked tobacco heavily they were thin and died early of heart attacks and lung cancer, with cannabis they grow obese and develop diabetes. (OK, not really! Please don't attack me on this.)
 
Its really easy to explain. Its easy and cheap to buy food that is high in carbs, more so than it used to be. Plus, people on average do less physical work than they used to.
 
No one makes people ( adults ) eat what they eat, but for the most part they don't seem to question that it is often driving disease.
People trust the medical establishment to give them healthy nutrition advice, and it's not happening.

Meanwhile, drug companies make billions, throwing chemicals at symptoms and not causes.
All with the support of such organizations such as the American Heart Association, and the National Institute of Health.
 
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I listened to an NPR segment earlier this year about the relationship between Pacific Islander obesity and.... Turkey butts.
Pre-war, folks living in places like Samoa and others were typically of average size and quite healthy. After the war, we began exporting tons of these fatty little bits-o-turkey as the market here in the US had fallen off (they are considered “soul food” in some areas)

The Pacific Islanders loved ‘em, especially deep-fried, and consume them by the ton...With the result that obesity has become a major health problem.
 
Bikewer said:
I listened to an NPR segment earlier this year about the relationship between Pacific Islander obesity and.... Turkey butts.
Pre-war, folks living in places like Samoa and others were typically of average size and quite healthy. After the war, we began exporting tons of these fatty little bits-o-turkey as the market here in the US had fallen off (they are considered “soul food” in some areas)

The Pacific Islanders loved ‘em, especially deep-fried, and consume them by the ton...With the result that obesity has become a major health problem.
Click to expand...

I'll take your turkey butts and raise you mutton flaps.

Eat little more than mutton flaps, or turkey butts, and get fat. Belly pork, too. I knew a man who weighed 400lbs. He once fell on his wife. He ate belly pork sourced from a butcher in Morecambe who supplied him in bulk. In bulk, get it?
 
At least in US grocery stores there is a trend, more and more processed foods with three traits, refined carbohydrates, high fat, and sugar
 
Bikewer said:
I listened to an NPR segment earlier this year about the relationship between Pacific Islander obesity and.... Turkey butts.
Pre-war, folks living in places like Samoa and others were typically of average size and quite healthy. After the war, we began exporting tons of these fatty little bits-o-turkey as the market here in the US had fallen off (they are considered “soul food” in some areas)

The Pacific Islanders loved ‘em, especially deep-fried, and consume them by the ton...With the result that obesity has become a major health problem.
Click to expand...

If all they ate were the turkey butts along with their traditional diet, I don't think that would be a problem.

One of many articles:

This Is Why Pacific Islanders Are The Fattest People In The World

Residents of Pacific nations have largely replaced locally-produced island foods, such as fresh fish, meat, fruits, and vegetables with imported foods of poor nutritional quality such as rice, flour, sugar, and canned meats.
Click to expand...
 
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