OPINION:
Whether obesity is an economic problem depends on how you have positioned yourself to capitalize on it (“For economy, U.S. obesity proves a weighty problem,” Page I, May 14). If you are part of the diet, exercise, big food, big pharma, big agra or big research industries (to name just a few), then obesity is the goose that laid the golden egg.
In fact, if you are a big-government, pro-centralization control freak, it is absolute nirvana. Revamp the food supply to make the population sick. Convince the affected population that it is their fault, and then come to the rescue with a bogus solution, and you have not only a perpetual cash stream, but perpetual population control.
Here is just one example: Michelle Obama’s “Let’s Move” initiative. Why, this must be based on sound science, the First Law of Thermodynamics and the best nutritional concepts known, right? Absolutely wrong, and if you actually know any science or are familiar with the research, you know as much. Total energy expenditure does not equal exercise, and the odds exercise will lead to long-term weight control are slim to none. Total energy expenditure can be broken down into basal metabolism, thermogenic effect of food, non-exercise thermogenesis, excess post-exercise oxygen consumption and last but not least, exercise. The big elephant here is basal metabolism, which averages 95 percent of the total, and can easily vary by up to 40 percent in value. Your brain controls this, and for the most part it is out of your conscious control.
If it all sounds complicated, it is science. Children are not any less active today than they were 50 years ago, and this has been demonstrated by following kids around with accelerometers attached to them. In any event you are considering a very minor component in energy consumption. Mrs. Obama has effectively used the exercise lie to control your children. It has nothing to do with science and everything to do with the usual, and very profitable, progressive, big-government agenda.
SAMUEL BURKEEN
Reston
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