A recent JAMA study recently reported that the two decade-long childhood obesity epidemic has finally leveled off, around 16%. Although that seems very nice, the number strikes me as odd. It’s a number that reminds me of epidemiological studies in toxicology (back when I had to know that kind of stuff). There are many different types of toxins in the environment. Some of these are known, some aren’t. They will effect most of a population to some small degree over time, but a certain small percentage of the population will be affected acutely. “16%” reminds me of that.
Why has the obesity rate leveled-off? Americans are still as overweight as ever. And, even with the public education push regarding healthy eating and exercise, I don’t see many families making any changes. McDonald’s sales are still high, and coddling parents still unnecessarily drive their kids to school. Obesity should still be rising at greater rates than ever. But, it’s not.
Imagine for a moment that there is a chemical in our environment, in the water or food, that effects the human metabolism in such a way that we gain weight. Possibly not much, but a little weight. It would be expected to find a certain small percentage of the population with acute effects towards exposure. In general, some cases create acute symptoms in these people seemingly unrelated to the symptoms exhibited by the general population. In this possible case, the acute symptom would make you even fatter. We already know that hydrogenated oils and high-fructose syrups are terrible for us, so there is a precedent to the line of thinking.
I understand that there’s more reason to blame movies, video games, facebook, even coddling parents. I’m just saying… 16% is an interesting number that may point to yet another cause that shouldn’t be overlooked.
