Continuous Productivity

Eat Longer, Be Less Obese

Interesting graph, courtesy Marginal Revolution:

It's the Calories, Stupid

I recently read about baseball player, Heath Bell, who lost 25lbs over the winter using the Nintendo Wii. Given my own inability to lose the lingering 20lbs that I have gained over the last few years, I diligently researched the Wii for fitness purposes. I quickly came to realize that like any other form of exercise, you actually have to commit to it and do it...and it's not really as fun as it sounds.

So, I was reassured by reading this article yesterday that basically said that you have to cut calories:

Researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health and the Pennington Biomedical Research Center put four popular diets -- high carb, high fat, low-fat and high protein -- to the test to see which of the regimens resulted in more weight-loss success.

After two years of monitoring the participants, "all the diets were winners," said study co-author Dr. Frank Sacks, a professor of cardiovascular disease prevention at the Harvard School of Public Health. "All produced weight loss and improvements in lipids, reduction in insulin.

"The key really is that it's calories. It's not the content of fat or carbohydrates, it's just calories," said Sacks. The findings are published in the latest edition of the New England Journal of Medicine.

I'd love to take the time one day and research the diet advice market, as a whole. It seems like, despite the obvious, there are so many revenue channels from books to fad diets to support groups. It seems like all you have to do is write a book with a clever name, get on a TV show, and success is guaranteed.

Obesity and Oil Again

Typical of McKenzie's interests is a recent paper that notes the average weight of Americans has increased 24 pounds since 1960, and how that has had a direct impact on gasoline prices. He contends Americans are using 1 billion gallons more gasoline per year hauling all that extra weight around, and airlines are using 1 billion gallons of additional jet fuel. And that extra demand contributes to the rising costs of gas (BusinessWeek.com, 6/3/08). 

"My inconvenient truth for Al Gore is you can save polar bears by going on a diet, at least if it's done nationwide," says McKenzie.

I can see the obesity and oil thing becoming an increasingly common theme given how intuitively easy it is to explain to the layperson.

Happy Meal Bad?

Be careful what you eat as a kid, because those extra fries could make it harder to shed pounds years later in life.

A team of Swedish researchers has found that humans determine their total number of fat cells in childhood. New cells spring up and old ones perish, but their numbers change little after adolescence.

By measuring radiation absorbed after nuclear bomb tests in the 1950s and 60s, researchers found that our fat cells quickly regenerate.

But obese people turn over far more fat cells than others, says Kirsty Spalding, a biologist at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm. The difference could explain why people battle to keep weight off after a diet.

"The take-home message is be careful what you feed your child," Spalding says. "Do everything you can to make sure you don't blow out your fat cell number when you are young."

Well, it certainly makes sense that we should watch what our children eat. Now, we have some evidence.

Veganism Beckons

The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced Sunday that a California meatpacking company had launched the recall of 135 million pounds of beef -- the largest meat recall in U.S. history -- following questions about the company's treatment of cattle that were slaughtered even though they could not stand up.

The recall by the Hallmark/Westland Meat Packing Co., in Chino, Calif., covers meat produced since February 2006. USDA officials said that, given the nature of ground beef production and its shelf life, much of the recalled meat has likely already been consumed. Federal authorities said they don't have solid evidence of illnesses linked to the meat.

I usually stop consuming beef when I read about meat recalls, mad-cow, or E. coli.  It's most likely a moot gesture, but it does give me a false sense of control.  The above bold statement is a stark reminder that most recalls of this nature happen after the fact. 

It's also disturburing to note, as this article points out,  that Hallmark/Westland sold over 37 million pounds of beef to federally run nutrition programs such as the national school lunch program.

Obesity Genetic?

University College London researchers examined more than 5,000 pairs of identical and non-identical twins.

Their American Journal of Clinical Nutrition study found that differences in body mass index and waist size were 77% governed by genes.

I am always intrigued by nature vs nurture studies that use twins.  Whether they be identical or fraternal, you can really isolate either the "nature" or "nurture" variable:

Identical twins have exactly the same genes, while non-identical twins are genetically different, like brother and sister.

However, because they were born at the same time, and raised in the same household, they can be assumed to have roughly similar upbringing in terms of food.

This allows scientists to measure differences in weight and calculate how much of that difference can be blamed on environment, and how much on genes, even though it doesn't identify individual genes which might be linked to obesity.

Make Me Fat Technology

This seems too easy.  You mean I can sit on my ass and text in an order of pizza?  I can't quite figure out if the goal is ambitious or undershooting:

Within five years, Pizza Hut aims to earn half its revenue from orders placed via computers and mobile phones, [Bernard Acoca, Pizza Hut's director of digital marketing] said.

My gut tells me that they should be able to generate 50% of revenues from technology very easily and quickly.  The statement, more likely, shows Pizza Hut's (or rather Acoca's) lack of understanding of the ubiquity of technology.