Survival of the Fattest? An Update

When the Ohoopee first published the article Survival of the Fattest? on July 4, 2005, arguing that men with beer bellies should be excused as a quirk of Darwinian natural selection, the editors were unaware that other important scientific work had already been done in this area. Now there is this from CNN.com. A group of scientists has put together a "top ten" list of excuses for gaining weight that might just have scientific merit. Here is the list (emphasis mine):

1. Inadequate sleep. (Average sleep amounts have fallen, and many studies tie sleep deprivation to weight gain.)
2. Endocrine disruptors, which are substances in some foods that may alter fats in the body.
3. Nice temperatures. (Air conditioning and heating limit calories burned from sweating and shivering.)
4. Fewer people smoking. (Less appetite suppression.)
5. Medicines that cause weight gain.
6. Population changes. (More middle-agers and Hispanics, who have higher obesity rates.)
7. Older birth moms. (That correlates with heavier children).
8. Genetic influences during pregnancy.
9. Darwinian natural selection. (Fat people outsurvive skinny ones).
10. Assortative mating, or "like mating with like," as Allison puts it. Translation: fat people procreating with others of the same body type, gradually skewing the population toward the heavy end.

Food for thought, so to speak.


Peace