Apr. 4th, 2008 03:39 pm
So much for that obesity epidemic
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textualdevianceI apparently missed this piece when it came out last month.
An interesting bit:
When WHO defined the body mass index scores constituting normal, overweight and obese, they appeared to be the result of an independent expert committee convened by WHO.
Yet the 1997 Geneva consultation was held jointly with the International Obesity Task Force, an advocacy group whose self-described mission is "to inform the world about the urgency of the (obesity) problem."
According to the task force's most recent available annual report, more than 70 percent of their funding came from Abbott Laboratories and F. Hoffman La-Roche, companies which make top-selling anti-fat pills.
(emphasis mine)
In short:
* No, adults aren't significantly more overweight than they were before. And kids aren't at all.
* What has changed is the definition of overweight. The BMI mark, for instance, slid down to 25 from 27, suddenly turning millions more people from healthy to fat overnight.
Shapely Prose also had an astonishing bit about the size-16 beauty queen. This Monica Grenfell person is a complete moron. Saying the girl should have a BMI of 20 and advocating crash diets for invisible vanity pounds? Whoa.
(For those just joining me on these rants: Yes, I know I'm fat. I'm on the train for this debunking of the obesity myth because I believe that the eating disorders, crash diets and other terrible things I did to my body when I was young not only contributed to poor health at the time, but permanently fucked up my metabolism. I'd probably be about 1/3 smaller than what I am now if I hadn't done that.)
An interesting bit:
When WHO defined the body mass index scores constituting normal, overweight and obese, they appeared to be the result of an independent expert committee convened by WHO.
Yet the 1997 Geneva consultation was held jointly with the International Obesity Task Force, an advocacy group whose self-described mission is "to inform the world about the urgency of the (obesity) problem."
According to the task force's most recent available annual report, more than 70 percent of their funding came from Abbott Laboratories and F. Hoffman La-Roche, companies which make top-selling anti-fat pills.
(emphasis mine)
In short:
* No, adults aren't significantly more overweight than they were before. And kids aren't at all.
* What has changed is the definition of overweight. The BMI mark, for instance, slid down to 25 from 27, suddenly turning millions more people from healthy to fat overnight.
Shapely Prose also had an astonishing bit about the size-16 beauty queen. This Monica Grenfell person is a complete moron. Saying the girl should have a BMI of 20 and advocating crash diets for invisible vanity pounds? Whoa.
(For those just joining me on these rants: Yes, I know I'm fat. I'm on the train for this debunking of the obesity myth because I believe that the eating disorders, crash diets and other terrible things I did to my body when I was young not only contributed to poor health at the time, but permanently fucked up my metabolism. I'd probably be about 1/3 smaller than what I am now if I hadn't done that.)
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