Fourth of Six

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Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Negatives of obesity not based on science, but rather social stigma, prejudices, and stereotypes

From the Junk Food Science blog:
Fat people are blamed for “overeating,” eating “unhealthy” foods (defined a myriad of ways), or being sedentary, despite the fact that a “tremendous body of research employing a great variety of methodologies that has failed to yield any meaningful or replicable differences in the caloric intake or eating patterns of the obese compared to the nonobese,” found Garner and Wooley. Convinced that obesity is caused by food, fat people are accused of having emotional “issues” with food and repeatedly told that they must be overeating, despite the fact they eat no differently than thin people to explain their size.
...
The most harmful stereotype of obesity is that their size is dangerous and deadly. But this conclusion “represents a selective review of the data,” found Garner and Wooley. In fact, examinations of actual mortality data makes it clear that across studies there is no reliable pattern of association between premature death and relative weight, they said. Dr. Paul Ernsberger and Paul Haskew in their comprehensive review of more than 400 papers published in The Journal of Obesity and Weight Regulations, for example, found that “the preponderance of evidence fails to support the contention that obesity is associated with an elevated mortality risk,” said Garner and Wooley. “Neither coronary heart disease nor cancer, the two leading causes of death, was significantly associated with BMI.”
...
According to Dr. Wooley, “fatness is an ethical, political problem more than a medical, psychiatric or behavioral problem.” There is a need for drastically revised attitudes toward obesity, she urged.


Excerpts © 2008 Sandy Szwarc. All rights reserved.

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3 Comments:

At 12:34 AM, Blogger Dedwarmo said...

They "failed to yield any meaningful or replicable differences in the caloric intake or eating patterns of the obese compared to the nonobese." Are they saying they don't know why some people are obese?

 
At 3:33 PM, Blogger Nisha Coffey said...

Henry just sent me this link today. Studies are often sided on the way you view information and Truth is often a wobbly line. I don't know the "real" truth but I suppose you have to go with how you feel, how healthy you are physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually, etc.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-dean-ornish/resuscitating-health-care_b_255224.html

p.s. how can i email you, becky? i would like to ask you something.

-nisha (filmgrr@yahoo.com)

 
At 11:26 PM, Blogger Becky said...

Hey Nisha,

I'll send you an email so you can ask me whatever you like.

 

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