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Unconventional Obesity Theories

Much of the public still accepts the ideas that genetics, carbohydrates, fats, or a sedentary lifestyle can explain the obesity epidemic. On the other hand, many obesity researchers have realized that traditional theories do not explain what we are witnessing in the modern era, and they have come up with some unconventional theories. In 2006 the International Journal of Obesity published an article titled “Putative Contributors to the Secular Increase in Obesity: Exploring the Roads Less Traveled.”¹ The article was a list of highly unconventional theories for the causes of increasing levels of obesity. After a CBS News report, the list gained some prominence and is popular on many internet message boards. Here are a few that we have not addressed.

Pollution

Theory: The increase in the rate of obesity has corresponded with an increase in industrial pollution. Many of these pollutants are known as endocrine disruptors, chemicals that can interfere with hormones in our bodies. Hormones regulate appetite, and appetite controls body weight. Thus, a chemical that interferes with our hormones could make us overweight.

Fact: There are examples of drugs that can cause weight gain by interfering with our hormones; however, if pollution were the cause of obesity, then people in very different countries would be overweight. For example, Japan is arguably almost as technologically advanced as the United States and is much more urban, with people more exposed to the pollution city life brings. In Beijing, China, air pollution is so bad that athletes at the 2008 Olympic Games brought facemasks.² It is not unusual for facemasks to be worn in Japanese and Chinese cities. Yet both these countries have obesity rates that are more than 90% lower than in the United States. Since the United States has lower pollution levels than Japan, but Japanese who move to the United States gain weight, pollution does not appear to explain increasing obesity.

Air Conditioning

Theory: The number of people in the United States who have air conditioning has also increased at the same time as the rates of obesity. Since we have to burn calories to heat or cool our bodies, air conditioning should cause a fall in the amount of calories we burn. This decrease could lead to an increase in weight.

Fact: This also does not fit with the examples of France and Japan, where air conditioning is just as common as in the United States. Air conditioning is simply another factor that correlates with our increased wealth. It also does not explain why Japanese immigrants to the United States who keep their traditional diets remain thin, while those who adopt the Western diet gain weight.

Decreased Smoking

Theory: Nicotine is a drug, and one of the effects of nicotine on our bodies is to lower our appetite. Since the discovery that smoking caused lung cancer, a major campaign has been conducted to get Americans to smoke less. This effort has resulted in a decrease in the rate of Americans who smoke, and this could cause an increase in the number of overweight people.

Fact: Tobacco has been used in the Americas since before they were discovered by Europeans. It wasn’t introduced to Europe until after the discovery. Still, for thousands of years Europeans were quite lean without the use of tobacco, so decreased smoking seems an unlikely candidate for the cause of the increased rates of obesity in Europe or America. It especially cannot explain the rise of childhood obesity. After all, how could childhood obesity formerly have been prevented by smoking when the number of children smoking was insignificant?

Older Moms

Theory: Another proposed theory is that the increase in obesity can be tied to the higher rate of women who are giving birth at later ages. There is a correlation between the age of a woman at birth and the probability her children will be overweight.

Fact: There is also a correlation between age and wealth. Women who give birth when they are older have higher incomes, on average. This means they are more likely to eat out at restaurants. Eating meals at restaurants is also correlated with weight gain.

A Fat-Causing Virus

Theory: Of all the unusual suggestions for the cause of obesity, my personal favorite is a fat-causing virus. We are gaining weight because of a new disease that is making us fat.

Fact: Recall that Japanese in the U.S. who still eat their traditional diet remain much thinner than those who adopt the American diet. For a virus to be the cause of increasing obesity levels, it would have to be able to distinguish between these two groups, and that seems somewhat unlikely.

Eliminating the Impossible

All of these theories seem to be incorrect, but all of them are excellent science. Trial and error are an integral part of the process of discovery. Thomas Edison, who invented the first practical electric light bulb and was one of the most prolific inventors who ever lived, spent a year and a half testing hundreds of different substances before discovering the carbon filament.

Rather than viewing his early tests as failures, he saw them as discovering what would not work. They were clues on the path to finding the one right material. In Edison’s day, the idea that an electric light could be used to illuminate homes probably seemed just as unlikely as the idea that a virus is responsible for weight gain today. In that respect we can still learn from Edison, who said that discovery, “is about turning a wild goose chase into a fox hunt.”³ Once we eliminate what does not work, what is left is what does. Knowing that all of these theories cannot explain weight gain frees us to look for new theories.

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Citations:

¹Keith, S. "Putative contributors to the secular increase in obesity: exploring the roads less traveled.” International Journal of Obesity. 4/04/2009 http://www.nature.com/ijo/journal/v30/n11/abs/0803326a.html.

²"Japan Olympians Pack Face Masks for Beijing." Javno. 4/04/2009 http://www.javno.com/en-sports/japan-olympians-pack-face-masks-for-beijing_167699.

³"Edisonian approach." Wikipedia. 4/04/2009 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edisonian_approach.

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