I. What Are We Even Talking About? Exhibit A: Exhibit B: AHHH THAT’S TERRIBLE WHY IS THAT HAPPENING??? II. The Scientific Consensus There’s a trivial sense in which obesity is caused by simple physics. Energy flows into the body in the form of food, and out in the form of heat (mostly produced by normal metabolic processes, and a bit during exercise). If the flow of energy into the body exceeds the flow of energy out of the body, energy will be retained in the form of fat. This model is referred to as ‘calories in - calories out’.
"But there are good reasons to look for factors other than increased variety in the snack aisle. Everyone in the US has access to hyperpalatable processed foods, but poor people are fatter than rich people, and some ethnic groups are much more obese than others. "
These are not good reasons. Poor people do worse on any outcome. IQ and conscientiousness differences could explain the dietary variance. Lower obesity susceptibility/better health could contribute to the income variance.
Some ethnic groups are probably just more genetically susceptible to hyperpalatable foods. You'd expect cultures eating lots of wheat, corn, rice or potatoes possibly have developed better resistance. At least anectodally, this is what I see. Islander peoples who've been eating fish and coconuts until recently get hit the hardest. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Obesity_in_Nauru
"Obesity is more common at higher altitudes than lower ones." You made a typo here.
I got no clue as to whether pollutants could be a contributor.
> Some ethnic groups are probably just more genetically susceptible to hyperpalatable foods. You'd expect cultures eating lots of wheat, corn, rice or potatoes possibly have developed better resistance.
Genetic susceptibility to hyperpalatable foods varying by ethnic group is interesting. You should look into it and write something up!
Just some thoughts off the top of my head:
- Indigenous Central Americans traditionally ate lots of maize, and have material conditions similar to poor indigenous people elsewhere, but afaict indigenous Maya are not at elevated risk of obesity http://journals.cambridge.org/abstract_S0021932015000127
- On the other hand, there's a long history of rice cultivation in west Africa and that doesn't seem to help African-Americans at all. It might be worth looking into what specific regions slaves were taken from and what the traditional diets were there.
You definitely already know more about world diets than me. This theory just stemmed from observing how badly Pacific Islander and Indigenous people in Australia are affected.
I think this is a typo:
"Obesity is more common at higher altitudes than lower ones."
Yes! Thank you, fixed
>Obesity is more common at higher altitudes than lower ones
don't you mean "more common at lower altitudes"?
fixed, thank you
"But there are good reasons to look for factors other than increased variety in the snack aisle. Everyone in the US has access to hyperpalatable processed foods, but poor people are fatter than rich people, and some ethnic groups are much more obese than others. "
These are not good reasons. Poor people do worse on any outcome. IQ and conscientiousness differences could explain the dietary variance. Lower obesity susceptibility/better health could contribute to the income variance.
Some ethnic groups are probably just more genetically susceptible to hyperpalatable foods. You'd expect cultures eating lots of wheat, corn, rice or potatoes possibly have developed better resistance. At least anectodally, this is what I see. Islander peoples who've been eating fish and coconuts until recently get hit the hardest. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Obesity_in_Nauru
"Obesity is more common at higher altitudes than lower ones." You made a typo here.
I got no clue as to whether pollutants could be a contributor.
> Some ethnic groups are probably just more genetically susceptible to hyperpalatable foods. You'd expect cultures eating lots of wheat, corn, rice or potatoes possibly have developed better resistance.
Genetic susceptibility to hyperpalatable foods varying by ethnic group is interesting. You should look into it and write something up!
Just some thoughts off the top of my head:
- Indigenous Central Americans traditionally ate lots of maize, and have material conditions similar to poor indigenous people elsewhere, but afaict indigenous Maya are not at elevated risk of obesity http://journals.cambridge.org/abstract_S0021932015000127
- northern China traditionally ate a wheat-based diet, southern China traditionally ate a rice-based diet. northern China is substantially more obese. India seems to have a similar wheat-rice gradient https://twitter.com/indiainpixels/status/1287398003465023489 and it doesn't seem related to obesity: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/16/20/3987/htm but perhaps geographical distribution of poverty is a factor.
- On the other hand, there's a long history of rice cultivation in west Africa and that doesn't seem to help African-Americans at all. It might be worth looking into what specific regions slaves were taken from and what the traditional diets were there.
You definitely already know more about world diets than me. This theory just stemmed from observing how badly Pacific Islander and Indigenous people in Australia are affected.