1. cortex
  2. Air-Conditioning Makes You Fat

Air-Conditioning Makes You Fat

By cortex on July 14, 2006.

A new paper in The International Journal of Obesity explores several of the ignored factors that contribute to the obesity epidemic. Sure, corn syrup and lethargy are bad, but other suspects include:

1) The decrease in smoking. Apparently, the Virginia Slims advertisements are accurate. Smoking really does make you skinnier by suppressing your appetite.

2) The rise of Prozac. Most anti-depressants have weight gain has a possible side-effect, and when 33 million doses of Prozac are being dispensed every year, those side-effects are bound to have an effect on our collective waistline.

3) Heating and air-conditioning: When we live in an environment that is either excessively hot or cold, our metabolism has to work extra hard to maintain normal body temperature. Sweating and shivering burns calories.

As the researchers note, their evidence is far from conclusive. But the paper does a wonderful job of reminding us that obesity is a disease with many different causes. Before the conventional wisdom gets too cemented, it's worth remembering that being fat isn'y only a by-product of Big Macs.

Can you come up with any other possible causes for the obesity epidemic?

Update: Slate's Sydney Spiesel has a good take on the new study as well.

Tags
Culture

More like this

The Other Causes of Obesity
The most commonly cited causes of the obesity epidemic over the last 30 years are decreases in physical activity and increased consumption of unhealthy foods: the Big Two. For these as causes, we have what can only be described as an overwhelming quantity of evidence. However, many other causes of…
The "Skinny Shot" and Media Accountability
This is the third of 6 guest posts on infectious causes of chronic disease. By Whitney Baker While working out at the gym last night, I was perusing the latest SHAPE magazine to help pass the time. In it, I read a small article about researchers finding an association between Adenovirus-36 and…
The Tussin, The Tussin
Notorious was having a little conversation with some friends, and someone asked a strange question: why would one want to abuse over-the-counter (OTC) medications such as Robitussin? OTC cold medication abuse is pretty common and the subject of considerable comment in pop culture -- not the least…
Obesity and diet: The first law of thermodynamics doesn't entirely apply?
Remember Sandy Szwarc of Junkfood Science? It's been a long time since we've last encountered her. Indeed, it was last year when there developed a debate on whether her posts were suitable for the Skeptics' Circle. At the time, I was conflicted. In many ways, Ms. Szwarc seemed to be a skeptic--at…

how about too much food?;-) snark aside, we have access to a lot more food that we used to, and it's easier for us to cook it as well. no more slaving over a hot stove, just nuke the sucker.

By bill thater (not verified) on 14 Jul 2006 #permalink

Better, well-rounded diets with more fresh vegetables and greater variety of foods?

With no nutritional deficiencies to hamper growth (as it were), people are free to utilize all nutrition to the fullest possible extent, even though they may not actually eat more than their ancestors.

Oh, and antibiotics and improved hygiene. We no longer feed a host of parasites in addition to ourselves, and our appetites (and ability to digest) are mostly no longer hampered by frequent, serious infections.

i heard that the idea that we're all becoming fatter is actually a statistical error; the average is increasing because the obese weigh more now, not because there are more overweight people. not sure if that is true - has anyone else read that?