Elizabeth Kolbert, “XXXL: Why Are We So Fat?,” The New Yorker, July 20, 2009

“Whether anything will be done – or even can be done – to stem the global tide of obesity is, at this point, an open question,” writes New Yorker columnist Elizabeth Kolbert in her review of several “weight-gain books” that examine the causes and course of this recent phenomenon. The theories under consideration include those put forth in the following publications: (i) The Evolution of Obesity (Michael Power and Jay Schulkin), (ii) The Fattening of America (Eric Finkelstein and Laurie Zuckerman); (iii) The End of Overeating (David Kessler); (iv) Fat Land (Greg Critser); (v) Mindless Eating (Brian Wansink); (vi) The Fat Studies Reader (New York University); and (vii) Globesity (Francis Delpeuch, Benard Maire, Emmanuel Monnier, and Michelle Holdsworth). According to the article, these books each offer a unique perspective on the obesity “epidemic,” chalking up the increasing waistline to a variety of factors as divergent as evolution, corporate manipulation, cheaper calories, and human psychology.

“The problem goes even beyond the corporate interests that have brought us ‘eatertaining’ foods, Value Meals, and oceans of high-fructose corn syrup,” concludes Kolbert, who notes that even politicians acting on World Health Organization recommendations “tend to be in thrall” to special interests. “Collecting the maximum number of calories with the least amount of effort is, after all, the dream of every creature, including those too primitive to dream.”