Fat Kids: Truth and Consequences by Rebecca Jane Weinstein

Author:Rebecca Jane Weinstein [Weinstein, Rebecca Jane]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Biography & Autobiography, Nonfiction, Health & Fitness
ISBN: 9780825307256
Publisher: Beaufort Books
Published: 2014-09-04T04:00:00+00:00

No Justice in War

As psychologist Deb Burgard has pointed out, we can’t tell how hard people work by looking at their bank balances. Neither can looking at the size of someone’s body, whether child or adult, tell us anything reliable about his or her behavior.

Science confirms that weight or fatness is much more complex than the simple calories-in versus calories-out model that can be conceptualized as the weight-oriented version of the Just-World Hypothesis. The reality: Some people can become or remain fat while eating relatively little. Some people may be naturally inclined to be bigger than others.

Genetics is probably the most significant factor affecting weight. The heritability of weight is estimated to be as high as 70 percent. But there are many other factors scientists have found that affect weight and adiposity, including chronic dieting and weight-cycling, environmental changes, changes in food supply, pharmaceutical effects, endocrine disruptors, increased pollution, sleep deprivation, decreased smoking, and aging and maturation.

The “war on obesity” and “childhood obesity prevention” efforts are predicated on the assumption that there are safe, effective ways of permanently making fat people thin. But there is plenty of evidence that such efforts hurt more than they help.

The majority of individuals who participate in weight-loss programs regain virtually all of the weight that was lost during treatment, regardless of whether they maintain their diet or exercise program, Bacon and Aphramor report. Ninety-five percent of dieters regain the weight they lost, and often more, within three to five years. Even the few long-term studies of bariatric surgery outcomes show gradual post-surgery weight regain.31

Except at statistical extremes—extremely fat or extremely lean—BMI “only weakly predicts longevity,” Bacon and Aphramor wrote in their 2011 analysis of weight science. “Most epidemiological studies find that people who are overweight or moderately obese live at least as long as normal-weight people, and often longer.” Being fat is actually associated with better survival of many diseases.

There is little evidence weight loss will actually improve the health of fat adults and children in the long run. There’s not even a way to test the hypothesis that losing weight will produce long-term health benefits, because there are not enough people who have maintained long-term weight loss.

In contrast, research shows that a high but stable weight is safer than repeated fluctuations in weight. Repeatedly losing and regaining weight damages the immune system and may itself increase the risk of heart disease and type 2 diabetes. Dieting has also been found to reduce bone mass and increase the risk of osteoporosis even in fat individuals, who generally are less likely to develop the condition. Dieting is also associated with increased psychological stress and cortisol production, both of which increase disease risk.

“Childhood obesity prevention” efforts operate under the assumption that fat kids eat more and move less than thin kids. But analysis of the reported dietary habits of more than 12,000 children and adolescents found that those who were clinically “overweight” and “obese” actually consume fewer calories than their thinner counterparts, beginning around age seven.32

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