A recent report by researchers from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) has claimed that rising obesity rates “could have the same implications for world food energy demands as an extra half billion people living on earth.” Sarah Walpole, “The weight of nations: an estimation of adult human biomass,” BMC Public Health, June 2012. After analyzing data from the United Nations and World Health Organization on body mass index (BMI) and height distribution to estimate the average adult body mass, the study’s authors calculated total biomass per continent and country “as the product of population size and average body mass.” Based on these results, the researchers concluded that “[i]f all countries had the BMI distribution of the USA, the increase in human biomass of 58 million tons would be equivalent in mass to an extra 958 million people of average body mass, and have energy requirements equivalent…
Tag Archives obesity
The journal PLoS Medicine has published two articles and an editorial in a “major new series” on “Big Food” in this week’s issue, and will publish five additional related articles over the next two weeks. The editorial notes that the articles, focusing on “the role in health of Big Food, which we define as the multinational food and beverage industry with huge and concentrated market power,” were selected under the guidance of guest editors Marion Nestle of New York University and David Stuckler of Cambridge University. Contending that Big Food has “an undeniably influential presence on the global health stage,” the editorial introduces the other articles and observes, “We decided not to provide a forum for the industry to offer a perspective on their role in global health, since this point of view has been covered many times before and fails to acknowledge their role in subverting the public health agenda,…
The American Medical Association (AMA) has reportedly championed taxes on sugar-sweetened sodas as a way to fight obesity. Although it failed to pass a policy that outright supports such a measure, the AMA recognized during its recent annual meeting that “while a number of factors contribute to the obesity epidemic, taxes on beverages with added sweeteners are one way to finance consumer education campaigns and other obesity-related programs.” To that end, the physicians group voted to adopt a policy supporting obesity-prevention education for children and teens in public schools that encourages doctors to volunteer to teach classes on causes, consequences and prevention. “I can’t tell you the number of 40-pound 1 year-olds I see every day,” pediatrician Melissa Garretson was quoted as saying. See AMA Press Release, June 20, 2012; Associated Press, June 21, 2012.
University of Chicago Economics Professor Gary Becker and Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals Justice Richard Posner have posted comments on their blog about New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s proposed ban on sugary drinks larger than 16 ounces. Becker concludes that “even when consumer decisions are not in their self-interest, it is questionable whether that provides sufficient grounding for government efforts to regulate and tax these decisions.” His most fundamental concern is that government bureaucrats may not “generally understand why consumers make defective decisions” or whether particular polices will effectively address the issue. He argues, “One should require evidence that the great majority of obese adult individuals do not make the connection with health before trying to restrict their consumption.” And he points out that if 16-ounce drinks are no longer available in New York, consumers may then substitute two 10-ounce drinks and thus increase their total consumption. Justice Posner agrees “that one…
A recent study has reportedly claimed that children who are overweight or obese “are more likely to have a neurological disease known as idiopathic intracranial hypertension [IIH], a rare condition that can result in blindness.” Sonu Brara, et al., “Pediatric Idiopathic Intracranial Hypertension and Extreme Childhood Obesity,” Journal of Pediatrics, May 2012. Researchers apparently analyzed data from 900,000 participants in the Kaiser Permanente Southern California (KPSC) Children’s Health Study, concluding that 57 (73.1 percent) of the 78 KSPC children and adolescents diagnosed with IIH were overweight or obese. These children were also more likely to be age 11 or older at diagnosis as well as white, non-Hispanic and female. “Consistent with two previous studies, we found that female sex and obesity first emerge as strong IIH risk factors in postpubertal age children,” reported the study’s authors. “Extremely obese adolescents were 16 times more likely than normal weight children to have…
Researchers with the University of California, Irvine, have allegedly demonstrated that low doses of bisphenol A (BPA) diglycidyl ether (BADGE) can turn adult stem cells and pre-fat cells into fat cells, raising questions about the obesogenic effect of a chemical commonly used in food packaging materials. Raquel Chamorro-García, et al., “Bisphenol A Diglycidyl Ether Induces Adipogenic Differentiation of Multipotent Stromal Stem Cells Through a Peroxisome Proliferator Activated Receptor Gamma-independent Mechanism,” Environmental Health Perspectives, May 2012. The study’s authors evidently used multipotent mesenchymal stromal stem cells (MSCs) to evaluate BADGE’s effects on “adipogenesis, osteogenesis, gene expression and nuclear receptor activation.” Their results purportedly indicated that BADGE, a combination of BPA and epichlorohydrin, can induce adipogenic differentiation in both MSCs and preadipocytes at low concentrations “comparable to those that have been observed in limited human biomonitoring.” “There is an urgent need to understand the mechanisms underlying the predisposition to obesity and related disorders.…
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s (I) Task Force on Obesity recently garnered national attention by proposing to limit the size of sugar-sweetened beverages sold at local food service establishments. In a May 31, 2012, report outlining several public health initiatives, the Task Force claims that “[s]ugary drink portion sizes have exploded over recent years” and urges a maximum size for these beverages as a way “to help reacquaint New Yorkers with ‘human size’ portions.” To this end, Bloomberg has introduced a measure that—if adopted by the city’s Board of Health at a June 12 hearing—would prohibit restaurants, food carts, delis, movie theaters, stadiums, and arenas from offering sugar-sweetened beverages in sizes that exceed 16 ounces. “Limiting the size of sugary drinks to no more than 16 ounces at food service establishments will help us confront the obesity and diabetes epidemics, which now affect millions of New Yorkers,” said Health…
A recent study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has purportedly identified a sharp increase in the prevalence of prediabetes/ diabetes among U.S. adolescents aged 12 to 19 years, from 9 percent in 1999-2000 to 23 percent in 2007-2008. Ashleigh May, et al., “Prevalence of Cardiovascular Disease Risk Factors Among US Adolescents, 1999−2008,” Pediatrics, May 2012. Relying on data from 3,383 participants in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), CDC researchers concluded that among adolescents, “the overall prevalence was 14% for prehypertension/hypertension, 22% for borderline-high/high low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, 6% for low high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (<35 mg/DL), and 15% for prediabetes/diabetes during the survey period from 1999 to 2008.” The study’s authors noted, however, that while there was “no significant change in prehypertension/hypertension and borderline-high/high lowdensity lipoprotein cholesterol prevalence from 1999-2000 to 2007-2008,” prediabetes/diabetes prevalence rose by 14 percent. They also reported that 37 percent of…
The Alabama State Legislature has reportedly passed a bill (HB 242) that would prohibit lawsuits “based on claims arising out of weight gain, obesity, a health condition associated with weight gain or obesity, or other generally known condition allegedly caused by or allegedly likely to result from long-term consumption of food.” Sponsored by Representative Mike Jones (R-Andalusia), the Commonsense Consumption Act would evidently bar civil actions on these grounds against “packers, distributors, carriers, holders, sellers, marketers, or advertisers of food products that comply with applicable statutory or regulatory requirements.” According to the May 18, 2012, issue of Capitol Retail Report, the Alabama Senate voted 29-0-2 in favor of the bill on the final day of the legislative session, delivering it to Governor Robert Bentley (R) for signature.
A recent analysis of scientific literature has argued in favor of reclassifying obesity as an addictive disorder based on criteria described in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM-IV) of Mental Disorders of the American Psychiatric Association, version IV, in part because such a reclassification would help initiate policy changes aimed at curbing “the obesity epidemic.” Patricia Allen, et al., “Rationale and Consequences of Reclassifying Obesity as an Addictive Disorder: Neurobiology, Food Environment and Social Policy Perspectives,” Physiology & Behavior, May 2012. Concluding that previous research supports its contention that “common dietary obesity satisfy [sic] all DSM criteria for an addictive disorder,” the article draws parallels between “Big Tobacco” and “Big Food” to suggest that strategies used to reduce smoking rates, such as increased taxation and limits on advertising, could be valid policy models for addressing “food addiction/food dependence.” In particular, the study urges lawmakers and other policy makers to view obesity…
