Do you believe that obesity is caused by over-eating - by consuming too many calories? - I invite you to consider the evidence and think again!

Do you believe that obesity is caused by over-eating - by consuming too many calories - and/or taking too little exercise? - I invite you to consider the evidence and think again!

Here is an extract from the UK Government's official statistics on page http://www.statistics.gov.uk/cci/nugget.asp?id=1329:

"The prevalence of obesity in England has increased markedly among both adults and children since the mid 1990s. In 2002 it was similar for both sexes; the rate for boys and girls was 17 per cent and for adults was 23 per cent. In 1995 the equivalent figures were 10 per cent for boys and 12 per cent for girls, 15 per cent for men and 18 per cent for women.

There is no evidence that the average calorific intake or consumption of foods rich in fat and added sugar has increased in the UK since the mid 1980s. Men aged 19 to 64 in 2000/01 reported a daily energy intake of approximately 2,323 kcal (a reduction of 6 per cent since 1986/87). Women in the same age groups reported 1,642 kcal, a reduction of 3 per cent.

Reductions over the same period were also observed in the contribution of total fat to total energy intake (from 38 to 34 per cent in men and from 39 to 34 per cent in women) and saturated fat (from 15 to 13 per cent in men and from 17 to 13 per cent in women)."

So people are eating significantly FEWER calories and LESS fat, yet obesity has INCREASED MASSIVELY!!!

Surely the logical deduction from those facts is not that obesity increases because of eating more calories! - So where is the evidence for the constant insistence by medical 'experts' that obesity is caused by over-eating and will be reduced by eating less? - Answer: - THERE ISN'T ANY!!!

The research evidence is that when obese people try to lose weight by following the 'expert' advice they usually GAIN weight...)o:

Calorie counting and advice about increasing exercise and reducing fat and calorie intake to reduce obesity are ineffective, counter-productive and often damaging. - See the article in the British Medical Journal of November 2003 BMJ article for actual research on what happens when this advice is followed! - Over 800 obese adults were put on energy deficit diets, given diet sheets and plenty of instruction and help from trained staff, and apparently, visited fortnightly for a year, at the end of which they had GAINED weight! This mirrors the real experience of obese people, viz. - dieting makes you fat.

It is commonly accepted now, except by the 'experts', that less than 5% of dieters actually lose weight, and most gain weight as a result of dieting. - Even the ones who manage to lose weight do not usually improve their health. - See Guardian article for a report in The Guardian of Monday, June 27th 2005. It is about a huge research study of nearly 3000 people over a period of 18 years. The study found that overweight people who diet to reach a healthier weight are more likely to die young than those who remain fat. It also found that dieting causes physiological damage that in the long term can outweigh the benefits of the weight loss.

Contributing to the increase in obesity we have the widespread prescribing of steroids and HRT and other drugs which cause weight gain, and the failure of doctors to adhere to the protocols connected with the prescribing and monitoring of steroids. But pre-eminent, in my opinion, is the catastrophically damaging calorie-reduction advice that continues to be given despite such a wealth of evidence that it is bad advice.

Another possible factor is the increase in the amount of oestrogen in the water table.

Now before you engage in the conditioned reaction of attributing the solution to this apparent paradox as being the exercise factor, I invite you read about research on this:

'Exercise has 'little effect on childhood weight' - reported HERE in the Guardian. According to the findings of research carried out by Glasgow University, getting four-year-olds to engage in three extra 30 minute sessions of exercise a week had no effect on whether they were obese or not. "Despite rigorous implementation, we found no significant effect of the intervention on physical activity, sedentary behaviour or body mass index," concluded the researchers.

More than 500 nursery school children were recruited for the study, which compared children who exercised three times a week with children left to their own devices.

DESPITE THEIR OWN FINDINGS, the researchers deny that this research means that exercise is completely ineffective in preventing obesity! - They say that "the problem of overweight children needs to be addressed on several fronts at the same time, not just through exercise."

So the researchers are so conditioned by the calorie explanation of obesity (for which there is no supporting evidence) that they deny the results of their own research! Their conclusion is therefore not science; it is mere conjecture...)o:

Here is an extract from my webpage http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/children.html:

"When children become fat it is essentially because they are eating salty food. Children are especially vulnerable to salt because of their small size and small blood volume, and because their blood vessels are weaker than those of adults. Salt, and the water it attracts to it, can more easily distend weak blood vessels than fully mature ones. The resulting increase in blood volume results in weight gain, as well as higher blood pressure and many other undesirable consequences. The smaller the child, the less salt they should have - and a baby, of course, should have no salt at all. - Babies can die if they are fed salty food.

Because children have much smaller bodies than adults it would be best if they had no more than half as much salt as adults. Most children, however, have much more than this because they eat so many snacks and instant foods. Just one cheeseburger, for instance, contains almost double the recommended daily salt maximum for children. There are high amounts of salt in packet soups, instant noodles, ketchup and sauces, sausages, burgers and savoury snacks. Fat children will lose weight fast if they eat less salt. And even faster still if they eat plenty of fresh fruit and unsalted vegetables, because these are rich in potassium, which helps to displace sodium from the body."