If you need urgent support, call 999 or go to your nearest A&E. To contact our Crisis Messenger (open 24/7) text THEMIX to 85258.
Read the community guidelines before posting ✨
Options
It's all the fat people's fault, apparently. All of it.
BillieTheBot
Posts: 8,721 Bot
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/7404268.stmObese blamed for the world's ills
Obese people are contributing to the world food crisis and climate change, experts say.
The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine calculated the obese consume 18% more calories than average.
They are also responsible for using more fuel, which has an environmental impact and drives up food prices as transport and agriculture both use oil.
The result is that the poor struggle to afford food and greenhouse gas emissions rise, the Lancet reported.
I hereby issue an unreserved apology to the drivers of gas guzzler cars, the aviation industry, free marketeers, capitalism and the oil corporations, amongst others. It seems they were not the ones to blame for the world's ills after all.
:rolleyes: but also
Beep boop. I'm a bot.
0
Comments
Far easier to blame obese people obviously. Never mind that not all obese people are so out of choice, or that food wastage by industrialised nations surely presents a far bigger problem than obese people eating more food than others, etc etc.
I think the food wastage from farms is a bigger shame than the amounts households throw out. Farms dispose of about 20-25% of what they produce largely because we want exactly uniform looking fruit, veg and meat.
eg food packaging, where it's made and the rest of it
ye waaa?
So it's the fatties buying ready meals whilst us healthy people grow our own veg :mad:
[/sarcasm]
If these experts could start to focus on developing solutions to environmental problems instead of futile attempts of finding just another scapegoat, we'd probably already have solved some of these issues.
I'm amazed they haven't blamed the Chinese olympic powerlifting team http://www.flickr.com/photos/dehwang/159761459/
There are far biiger issues than how much a person weiughs though.
Seriously, doesn't the London School of Stating The Completely Fucking Obvious have nothing better to do than this?
You could apply this statement to almost anything and it would be true. I don't like it.
Wouldn't it just be easier if we all admitted we're partly responsible, tried to do what we could and made it clear that businesses and the government should do the same? (even though they won't)
What is classified as 'obese'?
Also... Some people can consume loads of crap and still stay thin whether they exercise or not. Surely an athelete, or somebody who does heavy exercise or training has to consume a lot of calories too.
It also depends on what foods you eat. The meat and dairy industry is a huge polluter and contributer to climate change and highly processed food has a far bigger impact than locally grown whole foods.
As for transport, they might have a point. However at the same time, it's known that obesity is more frequent within people who live in poverty, so maybe they are less likely to be able to afford a car, or fly around the world several times a year for a holiday.
I think the study is a bit extreme to be honest. Obviously I've only read the report, but there are far more factors involved... Calculating an environmental impact is hugely complex. An obese person who consumes a lot of calories, but sources their diet from a local farm is having a far lower impact than somebody who consumes the same calories and isn't obese, but their diet is sourced from all over the place.
ect ect
Agree and disagree. It just feels like a bit like someone stating the bleedin' obvious.
There is a clear measure for what is obese and what isn't. The problem is it not fantastically useful as it'll quite happily class a professional rugby player as obese, for example.
Eating dick-loads and staying thin is a bit of an over-exaggerated fact. People do have faster metabolisms, but it very rarely is accountable for more than a few pounds. The equation for how much you weigh has always been, at its core, very simple.
Agree. The whole thing is a lot more complex and nuanced than "fat people eat loads = the world is bad". I'm not sure how helpful this report is - other than perhaps pointing out one thing in a myriad of things that would be beneficial to change.