Fat people are the root cause of all the world's problems.

[Riesstiu IV]

Obese 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.

It comes as the World Health Organization predicts the obese population will double by 2015 to 700m.

In the UK, nearly a quarter of adults are classed obese, twice as many as there were in the 1980s.

The team found that obese people require 1,680 daily calories to sustain normal energy and another 1,280 to maintain daily activities - a fifth more than normal.

The higher consumption of food has a two-fold effect, researchers said.

First of all the increasing demand for food, drives up production.

This means that agricultural processes are using more oil to meet demand, which contributes to the rising cost of fuel.

The cost of fuel is then passed on in the cost of food, making it more difficult for poorer areas to afford it.

Prices

What is more, the researchers said obese people are likely to rely on transport more and put more strain on that transport because of their mass, which again drives up prices and usage.

But the researchers said there was a solution.

Phil Edwards, who co-authored the article, said: "Urban transport policies that promote walking and cycling would reduce food prices by reducing the global demand for oil and promotion of a normal weight.

And they added: "Decreased car use would reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

"Transport and food policy and the importance of sustainable transport must not be overlooked."

But Dr David Haslam, of the National Obesity Forum, said it was "stretching it a bit" to blame the obese in the way that the study appeared to do.

"Really, it is discriminatory towards obese people. They are an easy target at the moment, but I think the causes of climate change and rising food prices is much more complex."

Bout time experts have spoken up.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7404268.stm

[Wezil]

I don't know how obese people make "easy targets". In this part of the world they must be a majority (in numbers not pounds of course).

[LordShiva]

Fatties

[BeBro]

Originally posted by Wezil
I don't know how obese people make "easy targets".

Simple, bigger silhouette = easier target

[Wezil]

Are you advocating we start shooting fat people?

[Riesstiu IV]

I am. Or at least send them to mandatory fat camps until they lose weight.

[BeBro]

Originally posted by Wezil
Are you advocating we start shooting fat people?

No but what can you do when you shoot around they're so big they always get hit first

[Wezil]

Originally posted by Riesstiu IV
I am. Or at least send them to mandatory fat camps until they lose weight.

You'd probably choose a harpoon instead.

[Riesstiu IV]

I hear land-whale blubber fetches a great price.

[Darius871]

This thread is useless without pictures.

[Wezil]

Oh no.

[Riesstiu IV]

Originally posted by Darius871
This thread is useless without pictures.

[Wezil]

I don't think this violates site rules (but will certainly offend in other ways...)

[Traianvs]

That's not a real picture is it?

Obligatory:

[Theben]

Actually smart people are the casue of all the world's problems. If it wasn't for them, we'd still all be swinging from trees and having 24/7 group sex!

[SlowwHand]

True.

[Provost Harrison]

My eyes, my eyes

I see the fatty hunt is on again...interesting...

[Dauphin]

If we hunt the fatties enough perhaps all their running will make them lose weight? Nah, they'd just used those little scooters of theirs to get away.

[Bugs ****ing Bunny]

News just in-

As fatties don't live as long, their lifespan carbon footprint is reduced, pointed out a spokesman from the Global School of Stating the ****ing Obvious today.

[MarkG]

communist countries dont have fat people. so perhaps we should....

[Impaler[WrG]]

They are also responsible for using more fuel

I cant see how this is true as the Fat are on average poorer and would have less to spend on fuel guzzling activities such as air travel. Their increased mass would be negligible when factoring in their gas-millage so I can only speculate that this claim is based on the fuel used in the production and delivery of more food. But I'd suspect their not taking any mitigating factors such as the poor thing I mentioned into account.

[AAHZ]

OP: Do I... KNOW you from somewhere...?

[Wezil]

Originally posted by Lazarus and the Gimp
News just in-

As fatties don't live as long, their lifespan carbon footprint is reduced, pointed out a spokesman from the Global School of Stating the ****ing Obvious today.

Smokers tried that excuse (unsuccessfully).

[Traianvs]

Originally posted by Impaler[WrG]


I cant see how this is true as the Fat are on average poorer and would have less to spend on fuel guzzling activities such as air travel. Their increased mass would be negligible when factoring in their gas-millage so I can only speculate that this claim is based on the fuel used in the production and delivery of more food. But I'd suspect their not taking any mitigating factors such as the poor thing I mentioned into account.

The fat poorer on average? Have you ever walked into a boardroom packed with managers? Anyone there with a BMI less than 30 is an exception or younger than 40 and well on his way to obesity

[Darius871]

Originally posted by Traianvs
The fat poorer on average? Have you ever walked into a boardroom packed with managers?

Have you ever walked into a Wal-Mart?

[Traianvs]

Originally posted by Darius871


Have you ever walked into a Wal-Mart?

No - I live in Belgium . Their imperium doesn't stretch out that far yet.


Btw: it does seem to damage your wealth

Obese men and women are damaging their wealth as well as their health.

As people put on weight, their pay packets and bank balances shed pounds, and men and women who are obese are worth half as much as thin people, research said. While the average obese person and his or her family are worth around pounds 70,000, thinner people and their kin have a net worth of pounds 160,000

The researchers from Ohio and Boston universities, led by Dr Jay Zagorsky from Ohio State University's economics department, took into account values of houses and cars as well as savings and income. The results, which appear this week in the journal Research on Ageing, showed that for a one-point increase in the body mass index, annual wealth, including income, fell by around pounds 700. "Over the entire life span, obese individuals have the lowest net worth, with the average obese individual having roughly half that of those with normal body mass," said Dr Zagorsky.


One theory is that employers may discriminate against the obese, either because of safety fears, health concerns, or simply because of worries about their public image.

"Research shows obesity is dangerous to health, but there is no research on whether obesity is dangerous to wealth," he said.

"It is an American study but the results apply to the UK and Europe too because the obesity problems are pretty much the same."

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/m...4/ai_n12748497


Seems that you're probably right then, heh

[Riesstiu IV]

Originally posted by AAHZ
OP: Do I... KNOW you from somewhere...?

Yeah, I post on this forum called Apolyton.

[LordShiva]

WTF is Apolyton?

[Darius871]

Originally posted by Traianvs


No - I live in Belgium . Their imperium doesn't stretch out that far yet.

I didn't suppose you had, but the point being that at least in the U.S., the poor are far more likely to be obese than intuition would suggest, and any stroll through a bad neighborhood, ride on an inner-city bus, visit to a NASCAR event, or stop by your local discount store makes that clear as day. I don't know if the cause is the relatively higher proportion of cheap & high-calorie fast food they eat, lack of time and facilities to exercise, the fact that they have less incentive to be concerned with appearance than the upwardly mobile, or some ungodly combination, but the ultimate result is obvious.

For that matter, every sample of upper management I've ever come across has been relatively health-conscious, but that might just be a yankee thing.

[Traianvs]

Originally posted by Darius871


I didn't suppose you had, but the point being that at least in the U.S., the poor are far more likely to be obese than intuition would suggest, and any stroll through a bad neighborhood, ride on an inner-city bus, or visit to your local discount store makes that clear as day. I don't know if the cause is the higher proportion of cheap & high-calorie fast food they eat, or the fact that they have less incentive to be concerned with appearance than the upwardly mobile, or a combination of both, but the ultimate result is obvious.

I can imagine. It's a lot more expensive to buy fresh quality goods, and the McDonalds etc over here often seem to target either students or poorer people when marketing new burgers 'n so on

For that matter, every sample of upper management I've ever come across has been relatively health-conscious, but that might just be a yankee thing.

I wouldn't know since I'm a student . The big bloated corporate dick's just a cliché that keeps popping up in my mind when I think of top managers. Then again, I live in a region known for its bon-vivants so it might be a bit true here