Famine and forced hunger tends to keep weight down.
2) As compared to French and Italians. She says that the French and Italians don't worry about weight and the doctors mostly don't weigh their patients so with weight among French and Italians it is all self-reported weight. Have you ever actually seen the statistics one weight -- as opposed to weight related diseases from other countries? Kolada says that weight related diseases are lower in some other countries but that is not because weight varies but because exercise actually helps people to avoid weight related diseases without effecting the weight of the person. This is the one difference that she found. You can be "overweight" and healthy but people are not told that.
2) She gives the range of weight as 20 pounds and says it is possible that people are now at the top range of their weight, but that range is invariant and cannot be changed by dieting and exercise. Also she seems to be correct when she says that all scientific studies seem to indicate this. Also she says that we don't really know how the weight range is "set" in the first place. So for example she says that there are convincing epidemiological studies that show environmental factors in the womb and in childhood can set the trigger for weight related diseases. I recently saw a study cited about insecticide pollution effecting the weight range of adults.
3) Obese people don't (a) die early as they once did and (b) are not kept from becoming obese in the first place by periodic famines.
As for the rest take a look through the book. You'll be surprised at how much consensus there is about this among scientists.
On 7/8/07, Doug Henwood <dhenwood at panix.com> wrote:
>
> On Jul 8, 2007, at 8:50 AM, Jerry Monaco wrote:
>
> > According to Gina Kolata's latest book -- Rethinking Thin: The New
> > Science of Weight Loss--and the Myths and Realities of Dieting -- Not
> > even exercise and reduced calories will help in the long run.
>
> So why, if corpulence is so baked in the cake, are Americans now so
> much fatter than they used to be, and so much fatter than most other
> people in the world?
>
> Doug
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>