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Obesity: more than individual choice.

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I found this article by science writer David Berreby over at Aeon Magazine somewhat interesting.

Read The Obesity Era by David Berreby.

Tackling the issue of obseity, Berreby cautions the perhaps overtly simple approach governments and other institutions have taken to explaining rising rates of obesity. This approach basically puts it down to individual self discipline and personal choice, which Berreby is quite skeptical of. He notes:

“Yet the scientists who study the biochemistry of fat and the epidemiologists who track weight trends are not nearly as unanimous as Bloomberg makes out. In fact, many researchers believe that personal gluttony and laziness cannot be the entire explanation for humanity’s global weight gain.”

Berreby goes on to discuss a wide range of possible explanations for the widespread increase in obesity worldwide, explaining certain points of view, although offering little opinion on which may be the best explanation. Nonetheless, the explanations are interesting – ranging from biochemical reactions to the impact of modern capitalist society on the food chain. He also notes an interesting idea about individual stress.

“The story might go like this: being poor is stressful, and stress makes you eat, and the cheapest food available is the stuff with a lot of ‘empty calories’.”

It doesn’t solve any problems but might give you a bit of a wider lens in which to try understand this important public health issue.


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