A few weeks ago the British press was awash with stories reporting that British men and women were amongst the fattest in Europe. Apparently 23.9% of British women were obese, with 22% of men classed as obese. That meant we topped the table for fattest women, whilst our men were only bested by those from Malta. We don't win many things these days and this particular prize is probably not one we'd aspire to.
So why do we eat more than we should?
A famous study from Cornell University goes some way to shedding light on how we so often ignore the signals our stomach is sending us and continue eating long after we're full. In the experiment diners were fed soup. The catch was that the soup bowl had a tube fed into it that kept it topped up, even as people were eating it. People feeding from this never ending trough ate some 70% more than the control group.
Or take this study from the Kellogg School of Management. They suggest that our temptation to over order is a social status signal to our fellow diners. In much the same was as animals let the alpha male of the tribe eat the most, so humans tend to bestow status on those with the biggest appetite. They found that if people did not have power in their lives then they ate more than those with power, which may go some way to explaining why obesity is so often linked with economic wellbeing. In their study they found that the powerless ate 30% more than those with power.
The sadness of this situation is that all too often adding weight means you earn less. Research has shown that this is particularly the case with women, although for heavily obese men it is also true.
The light on the horizon however is that once people were made explicitely aware that smaller portions were regarded as bestowing higher status on the diner, the powerless actually consumed 25% less. So the key would appear to be to make consuming less as socially advantageous as possible.
I'm not convinced that income/status has anything to do with it. Check this out
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/…
It shows that the very, very fattest/thinnest can be attributed to income but that's it. It kinda suggests that there are people out there that are just messed up, hence don't eat well and don't earn much, but that these people are a relatively small section of society.
Sure I've read somewhere about a correlation between BMI and IQ though, ie that the higher your IQ the healthier your BMI. As IQ is broadly linked with earnings wouldn't this be the same for earnings and BMI?
Like this French study do you mean?
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/n…
"In a new five-year study of more than 2,200 adults, people with a low body mass index (BMI) could recall 30% more words in a vocabulary test than those who were obese. "
Yeah it's that kind of thing.
Of course we're sidestepping whether IQ is a decent measure of anything, or for that matter whether BMI is a decent measure of anything.
Well yes, that's very true.
BMI and IQ aren't perfect measurements of their stated goal. They at least provide an approximation though.
All of this conveniently ignores that correlation is not causation. maybe being stupid correlates with not taking care of yourself? Maybe they're both caused by a third variable (perhaps watching too much TV?)
It's worse in America
Why do you think that is Michael?
Hmm, that is interesting. I've always thought that society tends to bestow more status on the thin than the fat. So if that, and this study are true, then people are favouring the short-term win than the longer term one.
Sadly giving into short-term desires is not uncommon in society though Nick.
It's worth remembering of course that some cultures favour bigger people over slimmer ones. In many African cultures for instance women are almost expected to be larger as a signal of their health and well being. Slim women simply aren't seen as attractive partners. This culture carries over even when/if they move to a western country.
I'm a doctor and sadly I see first hand evidence of this trend every day. Diabetes has roughly doubled at my surgery, especially amongst the super obese. Sadly many of these people have multiple other diseases and require surgery at a very young age. I really believe our bad diet and the problems associated with it will bankrupt the NHS.
Hi Chris. My partner is a nurse and she tells me much the same thing quite regularly. What do you think the answer is?
I don't know about status but there is a massive lack of education and awareness about diet and exercise in general. I mean how many of us have seen people at the gym doing some patheticly gentle walk/trot on the running machine for 10 minutes, then necking a bottle of Lucozade Sport and expecting to lose weight. The maths just don't add up, but they're too dim witted to do the maths, even with so much information now available about what you should eat, and the nutritional value of what you eat.
Yes, I think you're right Paul. The thing that baffles me though is why education remains such an issue? There are more cookery books and tv programs than there have ever been. Add in the hundreds of food related websites and a lack of knowledge can't be for lack of information.
The only relation between status and food other than education of what to eat is that maybe since they eat in cheaper places such as fast food and disregard eating healthy simply because they don't have the means that the "Higher Status" has.
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