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Politics : View from the Center and Left -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: quehubo who wrote (141186)	7/19/2010 8:33:22 PM
From: epicure	Respond to of 543222

Or Perhaps not. Lane 3 posted this article, and I found it interesting. It upends a lot of the thinking- your thinking, for example (with which I tend to agree- but with an open mind): Did the Obesity Epidemic Start in 1930? Thorkild Sørensen Yesterday, at the ongoing XI International Congress on Obesity, the 2010 ICO Award for Population Science and Public Health was awarded to Thorkild Sørensen from the University of Copenhagen. His studies from the early 70’s found early signs of the impending obesity epidemic in young Danish military recruits as far back as the 1960s. His studies further suggest that this increase in obesity was related to “birth cohort” effects and can likely be traced to perinatal environmental factors rather than to influences acting on school age kids or adults. Indeed, based on his findings, Sørensen strongly recommends that we take a careful look at the historical dimension if we hope to identify the root causes of the current obesity epidemic. As it so happens, I also had the pleasure of attending the launch of the new Wadd Society for the History of Obesity, with presentations from Professors George Bray, Stephan Rossner, and David Haslam at this meeting. The aim of the society is to promote interest in the history of obesity ranging from medical and pharmacological aspects to those of fashion, culture, art, and literature. As all of this perhaps serves to remind those of us working in the field of obesity, that we must be very cautious before jumping to conclusions regarding whether or not recent environmental changes such as sedentary lifestyles, fast food, sugary soft drinks, television, or any of the many other factors that are being discussed are truly the root causes of the epidemic. While none of these development would be considered “healthy”, conclusive evidence as to their actual role in the epidemic of obesity is far from conclusive. AMS Stockholm, Sweden drsharma.ca

To: quehubo who wrote (141186)	7/19/2010 9:24:17 PM
From: Dale Baker	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 543222

As best I recall from my childhood in the mid-60's onwards, all the bad stuff people consume today was already out in the marketplace, put there by the big food companies and the first fast food chains. Government back then was still trying to preach the food pyramid and healthy eating, though no doubt farm subsidies helped to shape the move to more and more corn. I see this mostly as the fault of the food/pharma elements of the complex, with government not stepping up to do the right thing healthwise by opposing some of the big agribusiness interests. But the many, many billions of dollars made from selling American all that junk in the last 50 years went mostly to the private sector. They are the ones who marketed it heavily to kids to get them hooked on junk food for life, quite successfully in most cases. I went to the doctor last week for the first time in two years for a physical, and what I saw in the waiting room was scary. How people let themselves get like that is bad enough, but knowing that a lot of SP500 "food" companies were the prime aiders and abettors is even sadder.