MetaFilter posts tagged with obesity and health

Sugar: The Bitter Truth

knave — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 18:04:07 -0800

Sugar: The Bitter Truth. Robert H. Lustig, Professor of Pediatrics at UCSF, discusses the biochemical properties of fructose and makes the case for why it should be considered, essentially, a poison. [Youtube, 1.5 hours] While the cane sugar vs high-fructose corn syrup issue is frequently discussed online, the two substances are remarkably similar. Sucrose almost immediately breaks into fructose and glucose (in 50:50 ratio) in digestion, while HFCS contains both in a 55:45 ratio. In Dr. Lustig's view, refined sugar and HFCS can be considered equally bad for humans, due to their fructose content. His talk is focused on fructose, and goes into detail on the metabolism of it in the liver (since, unlike glucose, fructose can't be used directly by the other parts of the body). He also touches on USDA dietary recommendations, including the recent decades preoccupied with reducing dietary fat, as well as the commonly cited (kcal in - kcal out = weight change) equation and its shortcomings for addressing obesity.

Fat, Salt and Sugar Alter Brain Chemistry

homunculus — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 17:26:11 -0800

David Kessler Knew That Some Foods Are Hard to Resist; Now He Knows Why. Former FDA commissioner David Kessler goes dumpster-diving to investigate the neurological impact of eating junk food. [Via]

Fat bug

caddis — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 04:35:47 -0800

Obesity can be “caught” as easily as a common cold from other people’s coughs, sneezes and dirty hands.... As many as one in three obese people may have become overweight after falling victim to the highly infectious cold-like virus, known as AD-36.

King Corn

thisisdrew — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 22:45:10 -0800

Cheap Corn Makes Your Life Short

Obesity may really be an epidemic

umop-apisdn — Tue, 21 Aug 2007 14:21:03 -0800

Obesity has been called an epidemic in the United States. Looking at an interactive statistic [CNN, flash] of the state-by-state numbers is sobering ^mf. 64% of adults are overweight and approx 25% are obese [Wikipedia 1, 2]. The usual suspects have so far been a culture of low-exercise ^mf high-consumption (due to urban sprawl, driving, TV, ... ), microbes ^mf, genetic predisposition, and bad diet (the ubiquity of junk food with its high levels of fat, sugar and salt. Recently the high fructose levels in the common American diet has also been noted. Fructose comprises 50% of table sugar and up to 90% of high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS), both ingredients found in copious amounts in most American 'convenience' foods. [Wikipedia: Fructose#References, Wikipedia:HFCS]).
Now it seems that a decisive assessory is a common virus, the Human Adenovirus-36, which may really make obesity an actual epidemic. [Int. Journal of Obesity, CNN]

The Economics of Fat

monju_bosatsu — Tue, 27 Mar 2007 08:10:29 -0800

Cheap Donuts and Expensive Broccoli: the Effect of Relative Prices on Obesity. Using data from the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) for the period 1982-1996, we find that individual BMI measures, as well as the likelihood of being overweight or obese, exhibit a statistically significant positive correlation with the prices of healthful relative to unhealthful foods.

Obesity and Diabetes

Gyan — Fri, 15 Dec 2006 14:34:16 -0800

Obesity and Diabetes - another free supplement by Nature

Microbes made me do it

caddis — Sun, 13 Aug 2006 14:35:09 -0800

Can microbes make us fat? Of the trillions and trillions of cells in a typical human body — at least 10 times as many cells in a single individual as there are stars in the Milky Way — only about 1 in 10 is human. The other 90 percent are microbial. These microbes — a term that encompasses all forms of microscopic organisms, including bacteria, fungi, protozoa and a form of life called archaea — exist everywhere. New evidence suggests microbes in our bodies can determine how efficiently we process food and affect our hunger centers.

MegaFeeders

Gyan — Wed, 16 Nov 2005 12:43:29 -0800

Obesity: Epidemic or Myth?

Super Size Me!

Sully6 — Wed, 20 Apr 2005 11:50:41 -0800

New federal study released today finds that overweight folks —not the obese, though—have a lower risk of death than those who are average weight. Some welcome these findings as the death knell for “fat hysteria.” The study also concluded that deaths related to obesity are actually a third of what has been reported by the CDC. Seems rather counterintuitive, no?

NutritionData.com

callmejay — Wed, 19 Jan 2005 10:57:17 -0800

NutritionData.com is a free and very useful website for detailed nutrition information, including the in-vogue Glycemic Index; their own Fullness Factor, a measure of how filling foods are per calorie; and others. Their Better Choices Diet makes use of the Fullness Factor to make consuming less energy than you use easier to do without going hungry. Previously mentioned in response to this AskMe question.

Another touching, sad, chilling account of obesity in America.

hijinx — Mon, 19 Jul 2004 10:37:40 -0800

Another touching, sad, chilling account of obesity in America. The story of Anamarie Regino, a 3-year-old who was abnormally large for her age. Anamarie was taken out of her parents' custody because, it was determined, her life was in jeopardy because of her size. This despite a 550 calorie/day diet and obvious signs that "too much food" wasn't an issue.

"I'm fat but healthy!" Not for long, you aren't.

ilsa — Wed, 12 May 2004 11:11:55 -0800

Scientists know that being fat reduces your lifespan, making you more susceptible to heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and a host of other bad things. However they are only beginning to understand why. "Fat tissue is now recognized to be the body's biggest endocrine organ," producing 25 known signaling compounds and a variety of proteins.

adipose lullaby

the fire you left me — Fri, 19 Mar 2004 17:09:17 -0800

All This Progress Is Killing Us. "Increasingly, Western life is afflicted by the paradoxes of progress. Material circumstances keep improving, yet our quality of life may be no better as a result - especially in those cases, like food, where enough becomes too much."

MyPetFat

hama7 — Mon, 01 Mar 2004 13:51:37 -0800

mypetfat™

mcdonalds supersizeme

stbalbach — Fri, 23 Jan 2004 10:00:30 -0800

His mission: To eat three meals a day for 30 days at McDonald's and document the impact on his health. "It was really crazy - my body basically fell apart". Spurlock charted his journey from fit to flab in a tongue-in-cheek documentary which he has taken to the Sundance Film Festival.

US and Big Sugar challenge WHO Plan

kokogiak — Wed, 21 Jan 2004 17:14:36 -0800

US and Big Sugar challenge WHO Obesity Plan William Steiger, of the US Department of Health and Human Services sent a 28-page letter to the World Health Organization on January 5th. On behalf of the Bush Administration, he writes "rigorous scientific studies do not clearly show that marketing fast foods or high calorie foods to consumers increases their risk of becoming obese. Nor do scientific studies definitively link particular foods, such as soft drinks or juices, or foods high in fat or sugar, to a higher risk of obesity." Attacking the science, protecting the status quo, it's a familiar tactic.

The WHO's efforts to combat worldwide obesity, and the reactions of US Sugar and Food Manufacturers were already discussed here last year. Now that the plan is outlined, after 3 years of work, it recommends "advising people to limit sugar and refined foods, restricting junk food marketing, improving food labeling and raising prices on unhealthy foods". The US, however, is demanding strong changes before it signs off.

Go, obesity!

valerie — Tue, 02 Sep 2003 21:13:14 -0800

McDonald's launches global campaign featuring Justin Timberlake in an attempt to target kids and teens. Forget the "Smile" campaign, it's "I'm lovin' it" now. (NYT account required)

Kraft announces plans to stop marketing in schools and to make products healthier

callmejay — Wed, 02 Jul 2003 09:57:45 -0800

Kraft announces plans to stop marketing in schools and to make products healthier Sure, maybe they're only doing it because they're being sued, but it's nice to see a company taking responsible steps without being forced to. Now if only all other junk food makers would do the same, or schools stopped allowing the junk foods in.

Roly-poly children seem to be everywhere

Prospero — Thu, 13 Mar 2003 11:47:41 -0800

American cultural hegemony strikes again. (NYT reg. req.) Asian children exposed to an American-made high-sugar, high-fat, pre-processed, fast-food diet now seem to be coming up with American diseases: obesity, diabetes, things like that. My fascination with the article is caused not so much by its content as it is by its tone, though: Known in Chinese as "xiao pangzi," or "little fatties," these roly-poly children seem to be everywhere, the pampered victims of cultures that prize them as emblems of affluence and well-being. Do I sense a certain smugness in this article? Is the author sarcastically reading this as a triumph of American values?

Does fat kill?

tippiedog — Tue, 28 Jan 2003 13:21:52 -0800

Obesity may not be unhealthy after all A careful survey of medical literature reveals that the conventional wisdom about the health risks of fat is a grotesque distortion of a far more complicated story. Indeed, subject to exceptions for the most extreme cases, it's not at all clear that being overweight is an independent health risk of any kind, let alone something that kills hundreds of thousands of Americans every year. [The New Republic online, free reg. required]

Coop — Wed, 04 Sep 2002 18:38:04 -0800

Couch potato lifestyle is worse for your health than smoking Poor diet and lack of exercise cause more illness than smoking, new figures show. The lifestyle of couch potatoes has overtaken smoking as the major cause of ill-health in EU countries for the first time, the World Health Organisation says. Great, now reading Metafilter is bad for me.

ao4047 — Tue, 27 Aug 2002 12:27:50 -0800

The Bush administration announces the slogan for the campaign to combat adolescent obesity: "Verb: It's what you do." I am totally confused. The website suggests I make a paper airplane (PDF) to get started on burning off those fat rolls. (via Slate)

srboisvert — Sat, 06 Jul 2002 19:10:54 -0800

Fat versus Carbs NYT Magazine takes an deep look at the issues of the low fat diet and the modern obesity epidemic.

aj100 — Thu, 08 Nov 2001 08:03:52 -0800

That is McGross Man eats 18,000 Big Macs.