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The acceleration in the incidence of obesity began in the early 1990's in all of the "Westernized" countries of the world. Unless there was a pandemic of a virus which destroyed the "baristat" regulating body weight we must hypothesize a factor which destroyed the desire of people to avoid the well-known consequences of gluttony. This factor is quite likely the introduction of the first statin, Mevacor, in 1987. The implication of extensive drug advertising was that all one had to do was measure one's "cholesterol" and lower it with statins, if necessary, and one could eat what one wanted, a classic case of moral hazard, an unintended consequence of technology. While some critics have tried to deny the obesity epidemic its consequences are now obvious, expensive and disastrous. Food, especially when highly-refined, with high concentrations of sugar, salt and mouth-comforting grease, can be addictive. See our photo essay on Food Addiction. Drugs for lifestyle diseases are unethical when prescribed before lifestyle change because they only exacerbate the addiction.
For a more detailed look at the obesity epidemic in one small town see this page.
The data by state covers up the association between obesity and American-style poverty, the ultimate in moral hazard.
The AHA has released a Scientific Statement on Obesity and Cardiovascular Disease. See if the AHA has any idea about the cause of the pandemic, what it suggests as solutions and why it might have these opinions.
Those who would support the hypothesis that the "baristat" has been mysteriously reset in the entire human population of the world, men, women and even children, at the same time and that the pandemic has nothing to do with a moral issue will have to explain how pets became obese at the same time. Even the pet food company, Purina, is worried. Children and pets just do what their parents and masters do.
For Causcasians obesity is defined as a body mass index, BMI, over 30. For Asians, it is over 26. Asians tend to have smaller bones and muscles for the same height. While most statistics have been reported in terms of BMI of more importance for the development of lifestyle diseases is the, internal abdominal fat known as visceral fat.
If you want to see what the future will look like take a trip to Disney World in Orlando. This ?women is eating a Mickey Mouse shaped chocolate coated Ice cream bar. The two mouse ears have already been consumed. Total calories about 500. That is more than a quarter of the calories she should consume for the whole day. Food addiction kills and maims more people than all other addictions combined. Statins only encourage food addiction by promising to obviate the destructive consequences.
