Somehow I Think I Knew This Already...

From Gordon's Notes:

Exercise cannot control obesity gene associated weight gain: The title on this SciAm summary is silly...

Do I look fat in these genes? Exercise can cancel out effects of 'heavy-weight' DNA: Scientific American Blog: ... Physically active people who carry gene mutations linked to obesity are no more likely to be overweight than those without the variants -- as long as they exercise at least three hours a day...

Exercising 3+ hours a day is not compatible with life in a post-industrial world. If these results turned out be generalizable to a reasonable portion of the obese population (big if), then we'd know that exercise won't control our expanding (sorry) obesity problem. We already know diet doesn't work, so here's hoping for great drugs ...

Either that, or we get rid of our cars ...

Comments

[George J. Georganas]

Diet doesn't work ?
Consider this: There exist lean people who eat much. Fat people who eat little do not exist.
How about a fat-content or calories-content tax ?

[Bob Mullen]

Liberals seem to forget that Evolution is driven in part by "The survival of the fittest". If that Obesity gene is no longer useful to the general population, maybe the population needs to evolve. They believe in evolution for the past, but stasis for the future. Eventually their undisciplined, bloated kids (Frannie and Freddie) burst.

Those on the right make the opposite mistake, ready to apply "Survival of the fittest" in every market but pretend evolution and extinction will not follow. They preach Trickle-down, Rising-tide, and the benefits of Globalization and the sheep follow.

[Randolph]

"Exercising 3+ hours a day is not compatible with life in a post-industrial world."

Why not? There are plenty of people who do that much physical labor. Even if that's not your work, why not live a physically intense life if your body suits you to it?

[Robert Waldmann]

My plan is to subsidize ethanol for cars Only If it is made from high fructose corn syrup and not from corn. Same subsidy goes to the same people, but the effect is that soft drinks cost more and people in the US drink less of them while corn meal costs less and people in Haiti eat it instead of their current diet including boiled mud.

Turn corn syrup into auto-fuel. Kill two birds with one stone.

[RKimble]

Prof, There has been a substantial rise in obesity in the US in the past 25-30 years. The effect has occurred in too brief a period to be genetic and must therefore be environmental. So what is the environmental factor that is interacting with the obesity gene that exercise cannot control ?

[RKimble]

Prof, There has been a substantial rise in obesity in the US in the past 25-30 years. The effect has occurred in too brief a period to be genetic and must therefore be environmental. So what is the environmental factor that is interacting with the obesity gene that exercise cannot control ?

[RKimble]

Prof, There has been a substantial rise in obesity in the US in the past 25-30 years. The effect has occurred in too brief a period to be genetic and must therefore be environmental. So what is the environmental factor that is interacting with the obesity gene that exercise cannot control ?

[mary]

People don't have to be skinny -- they need to be healthy. Exercise is the way to be healthy. So why not build it into the daily routine? Easier said than done, I know -- I'm the only person I know who does this on a regular basis, and I live in Berkeley, not Buffalo (which is where I used to live). I walk or bike to work and most other places I go (or, at the very least, I walk to the BART); I walk to the grocery store and/or farmers market and then carry my groceries home (for the most part); I take recreational walks or bike rides in the hills . . . blahblahblah. I know that many people live in places where walking and biking is not so easy, what with all the highways and/or surface-level arteries. But they also choose to drive all the time because it's easier, on a certain level. And the things people eat and drink . . . well, let's not get into that! My comment is long enough already.

[Ken Houghton]

All right, let's do the math:

Work = 8-10 hours per day, five days per week. 40-50 hours.

Commuting = 7.5 hours a week (5 x 1.5 hours, which is probably high).

Sleep = 7 x 7 = 49.

Food (outside of work time): 1.5 x 7 = 10.5 hours

Looks as if it's 118 hours. Which leaves 50 hours a week of Leisure time, of which they're asking for 21, or 42%.

Which lets you live longer and perform better during those other hours. (Reduced health care costs are a secondary effect.)

Sounds as if it's a good trade-off, and that J. Gordon (not Brad DeLong, whose big mistake was not making a comment afterward to make it clear that he and/or his 17-year-old, top-ten-runner daughter--would disagree) blames cars sounds even stupider after running the numbers than it did at first inanity.

[Randolph]

"So what is the environmental factor that is interacting with the obesity gene that exercise cannot control?"

The short answer, of course, is agribusiness. The long answer is probably marketing of highly-sugared soft drinks. But the basic reason is that agribusiness is trying desperately to sell people food & is succeeding.

[Oskar Shapley]

Ignore this research.

Exercise cardio three times a week ca. 30-40 min and you should loose 20 pounds in 12 weeks. It worked for me after I accumulated 40 pounds because of a desk job.

Eliminate pizza, cheese, butter, other fats from your diet. Do not try wonder diets.

Jogging is the best excercise, but some variation (swimming, cycling) is beneficial or else it gets boring.

[Roland]

Realistic or not, you must move your body on a regular basis to remain healthy. That's all exercise is: moving your body.

Environment and behaviour are the keys because as has been pointed out already, this epidemic of obesity is recent.