We're fatter for so many more reasons

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published June 27, 2006

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Why are so many people fat? A group of 20 scientists from the United States, Canada and Italy went beyond the standard diet and exercise thinking and looked at more than 100 other possible causes. In a report published today in the International Journal of Obesity, they reveal 10 that they said had some validity:

1. Inadequate sleep. (Average sleep amounts have fallen, and many studies tie sleep deprivation to weight gain.)

2. Endocrine disruptors, which are substances in some foods that may alter fats in the body.

3. Nice temperatures. (Air conditioning and heating limit calories burned from sweating and shivering.)

4. Fewer people smoking. (Less appetite supression.)

5. Medicines that cause weight gain.

6. Population changes. (More middle-agers and Hispanics, who have higher obesity rates.)

7. Older birth moms. (That correlates with heavier children).

8. Genetic influences during pregnancy.

9. Darwinian natural selection. (Fat people outsurvive skinny ones).

10. Assortative mating, or "like mating with like." That is, fat people procreate with others of the same body type, gradually skewing the population toward the heavy end.

Reaction is mixed.

"I think it's very creative," said Dr. Robert Kushner, medical director of the weight management program at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago, who had no role in the report.

"We are facing an epidemic with no tipping point in the near future. At this point, there are no silly ideas."

"I'd put this in the category of 'calorie distracters': 'Let's just do anything to get people to stop worrying about having to eat less and move more,' " said Marion Nestle, a nutrition professor at New York University and frequent food industry critic. " 'And let's not say a word to food companies about misleading and manipulative marketing practices, especially those directed toward children.' "

-ASSOCIATED PRESS