spin454545
Sat, Sep-29-07, 17:16
Evolution makes us fat
27/09/2007
William Leith reviews Waistland: the (R)evolutionary Science
behind our Weight and Fitness Crises by Deirdre Barrett
At the start of this sensible book about the "weight and
fitness crisis" in America, the Harvard psychologist Deirdre
Barrett tells us some shocking things. By 1995, she says,
two-thirds of Americans were overweight, hundreds of thousands
were dying fat-related deaths, being overweight was people's
most common gripe and obesity was poised to overtake smoking
as the biggest cause of preventable death. All of this, she
says, accounted for $99 billion in medical costs.
What's more shocking is that, as she points out, in the decade
since then, things have got much worse - by 2004, people were
eating 50 per cent more fast food, and the annual medical bill
had risen to $117 billion. The problem, in other words, is
bad, and it's getting worse, and we can't seem to stop it. So
why does fattening food - sugar, starch and fat itself - have
such a grip on us?
The answer, says Barrett, lies in the study of evolution. As
animals, we are genetically almost identical to our Stone Age
ancestors. We live in advanced societies, with supermarkets
and cars and lifts, but we are built to be hunter-gatherers.
We are programmed to seek out fat, sugar, starch and salt,
because, in the Stone Age, these things were hard to come by.
When they turn up in abundance, our bodies, for the most part,
can't say no.
She tells us lots of interesting things about our
hunter-gatherer ancestors, who immediately preceded the first
farmers. The point about farming, she says, is that, although
it makes populations bigger and tribes more powerful, it's not
necessarily healthier for the individual.
Rest of article here: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jh-
tml?xml=/arts/2007/09/27/bobar122.xml
Book here: http://www.amazon.com/Waistland-evolutionary-Scien-
ce-Behind-Fitness/dp/0393062163/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/102-1208061-9-
657721?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1191089117&sr=8-1
27/09/2007
William Leith reviews Waistland: the (R)evolutionary Science
behind our Weight and Fitness Crises by Deirdre Barrett
At the start of this sensible book about the "weight and
fitness crisis" in America, the Harvard psychologist Deirdre
Barrett tells us some shocking things. By 1995, she says,
two-thirds of Americans were overweight, hundreds of thousands
were dying fat-related deaths, being overweight was people's
most common gripe and obesity was poised to overtake smoking
as the biggest cause of preventable death. All of this, she
says, accounted for $99 billion in medical costs.
What's more shocking is that, as she points out, in the decade
since then, things have got much worse - by 2004, people were
eating 50 per cent more fast food, and the annual medical bill
had risen to $117 billion. The problem, in other words, is
bad, and it's getting worse, and we can't seem to stop it. So
why does fattening food - sugar, starch and fat itself - have
such a grip on us?
The answer, says Barrett, lies in the study of evolution. As
animals, we are genetically almost identical to our Stone Age
ancestors. We live in advanced societies, with supermarkets
and cars and lifts, but we are built to be hunter-gatherers.
We are programmed to seek out fat, sugar, starch and salt,
because, in the Stone Age, these things were hard to come by.
When they turn up in abundance, our bodies, for the most part,
can't say no.
She tells us lots of interesting things about our
hunter-gatherer ancestors, who immediately preceded the first
farmers. The point about farming, she says, is that, although
it makes populations bigger and tribes more powerful, it's not
necessarily healthier for the individual.
Rest of article here: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jh-
tml?xml=/arts/2007/09/27/bobar122.xml
Book here: http://www.amazon.com/Waistland-evolutionary-Scien-
ce-Behind-Fitness/dp/0393062163/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/102-1208061-9-
657721?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1191089117&sr=8-1