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Truth Behind Fat: References

[Original post found here. All content following is authored by the maker of Big Liberty, the source blog.]

DISCLAIMER: This links list is always in the works, and is not comprehensive or complete. If evidence is not listed, it doesn’t mean it does not exist. If you have any links to add, please insert them in relevant comments and they will be reviewed.

For a general resource on debunking the junk science behind obesity, please see:

• Linda Bacon’s resources and blog
• Sandy Szwarc’s blog, Junkfood Science
• Michelle’s blog, The Fat Nutritionist
• ASDAH’s article repository

Debunking Fat Hate and Misconceptions

Doesn’t Obesity Kill?

• Obesity does not kill 400,000 Americans a year (in fact, it ‘contributes’ to fewer than 30,000).
• Fit Over 60s Live Longer Regardless of Body Fat
• No tenable link between obesity and breast cancer type
• No tenable link between diet and weight control and remission of type II diabetes
• The J-curve relationship between BMI and mortality
• Mortality risk for overweight and obese is no greater than for ‘normal’ when hypertension and diabetes are controlled for, (Anthony Jerant, Peter Franks. “Body Mass Index, Diabetes, Hypertension, and Short-Term Mortality: A Population-Based Observational Study, 2000–2006″ J Am Board Fam Med July-August 2012 vol. 25 no. 4 422-431)
• Low-Calorie Diet Doesn’t Prolong Life (New York Times, August 29, 2012)

Shouldn’t Fat People Should Simply Eat Less and Move More?

• In controlled settings people lose 10% of their weight on a diet, but one third to two thirds of the weight is regained within 1 year, and almost all is regained within 5 years. (“Methods for voluntary weight loss and control. NIH Technology Assessment Conference Panel.” Ann Intern Med. 1992 Jun 1;116(11):942-9.)
• The preponderance of evidence shows that diets don’t work
• No weight loss intervention shown generally effective post 5 years
• Fat people as a whole metabolically the same as lean people, except that they’re bigger
• Eating and weight gain not necessarily linked, study shows
• Evidence for a bodyweight setpoint (energy homeostasis)
• Medicare’s search for effective obesity treatments: Diets are not the answer. (Mann, Traci; Tomiyama, A. Janet; Westling, Erika; Lew, Ann-Marie; Samuels, Barbra; Chatman, Jason. American Psychologist, Vol 62(3), Apr 2007, 220-233. doi: 10.1037/0003-066X.62.3.220 ) (PDF)

Isn’t There An Obesity Epidemic?

• Americans have only gained an average of 14 lbs (women) and 16 lbs (men) since 1990 (Gallup)
• Obesity: An Overblown Epidemic
• The 1998 BMI definition changes made 30 million Americans overweight or obese OVERNIGHT
• The Myth of the Obesity “Tsunami”
• One-third of American Adults are Obese, but Rate Slows

Yeah, But What About the Children? Isn’t Fat Killing Them?

• Childhood famine (that includes dieting and starvation) increases risk of type 2 diabetes
• Adolescents who engage in unhealthy weight-control behaviors such as dieting and binge eating are three times more likely five years later to be overweight than adolescents who did not engage in those behaviors

Isn’t Weight a Lifestyle Choice?

• Obesity largely determined by genetics, says study
• Obesity is 77% heritable
• Thin parents pass on skinny genes to children (October 4, 2011, The Independent, UK)
• Insulin resistance. A multifaceted syndrome responsible for NIDDM, obesity, hypertension, dyslipidemia, and atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease. DeFronzo RA, Ferrannini E. Diabetes Care. 1991 Mar;14(3):173-94.

But Doesn’t the Idea that People are Different Sizes Though Consuming/Exercising the Same Violate the Second Law of Thermodynamics?

• In fact, in principle, the suggestion that a “calorie is a calorie” — all human metabolisms are the same Bunsen Burner — violates the Second Law of Thermodynamics.

Isn’t there a Study that Disproves the Claim that You Can Be Fit and Fat?

• That study is junk science. The preponderance of evidence shows that in fact, one can be fat and fit.

Is there Discrimination Against Fat People?

• Brownell Obesity Discrimination Study (2001)
• Health Professionals Specializing in Obesity Aren’t Immune from Weight-Bias
• The surprising reason why being overweight isn’t healthy
• Obesity bias based on disgust, study says (2010)

Isn’t Fat Unhealthy?

• Weight Science: Evaluating the Evidence for a Paradigm Shift (Linda Bacon and Lucy Aphramor, Nutrition Journal 2011, 10:9, 24 January 2011)
• Higher BMI can lower risk for Alzheimer’s
• Metabolic syndrome associated with decelerated cognitive decline in the very elderly
• The case against the Type II diabetes “epidemic” in kids
• You can’t eat your way to diabetes
• ‘Obese’ BMI does not harm current health of young adults, study says
• Obesity not always tied to higher heart risk (Reuters, May 24, 2012)

Shouldn’t Fat People Try to Diet Anyway?

• Although long-term follow-up data are meager, the data that do exist suggest almost complete relapse after 3-5 yr. (Miller, W. C. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 1999 Aug;31(8):1129-34.)
• In fact, size acceptance and health at every size may be a better approach to health than chronic dieting. (Bacon L, Stern JS, Van Loan MD, Keim NL. J Am Diet Assoc. 2005 Jun;105(6):929-36.)
• Except that dieting can kill you, even when you’re fat and dieting down to a ‘normal’ weight.
• And there are suggestions that frequent (intentional) weight loss diets reflect susceptibility to weight gain, rendering dieters prone to future weight gain. (August 9, 2011, K H Pietiläinen, S E Saarni, J Kaprio and A Rissanen. “Does dieting make you fat? A twin study” International Journal of Obesity | doi:10.1038/ijo.2011.160)
• Healthy lifestyle habits are associated with a significant decrease in mortality regardless of baseline body mass index.  (Eric M. Matheson, MS, MD, Dana E. King, MS, MD and Charles J. Everett, PhD. J Am Board Fam Med January-February 2012 vol. 25 no. 1 9-15)
• And adolescents who engage in unhealthy weight-control behaviors such as dieting and binge eating are three times more likely five years later to be overweight than adolescents who did not engage in those behaviors.
• There are even further suggestions suggest that for many adolescents, dieting to control weight is not only ineffective, it may actually promote weight gain. (Alison E. Field, ScD, S. B. Austin, ScD, C. B. Taylor, MD, Susan Malspeis, SM, Bernard Rosner, PhD, Helaine R. Rockett, RD, Matthew W. Gillman, MD, Graham A. Colditz, MD. “Relation Between Dieting and Weight Change Among Preadolescents and Adolescents” PEDIATRICS Vol. 112 No. 4 October 1, 2003 pp. 900 -906)
• Weight Regain Following Sustained Weight Reduction is Predicted by Relative Insulin Sensitivity, Trudy J. Yost, Dalan R. Jensen, Dr. Robert H. Eckel*, Obesity Research, Volume 3, Issue 6, pages 583–587, November 1995

But Aren’t Food Deserts/Lack of Access/Poor Choices/Lack of Time Making Poor People Fatter?

• Studies question the pairing of food deserts and obesity (Gina Kolata, The New York Times, April 17, 2012)

General Sites Debunking the Junk Science About Obesity

• Big Fat Lies

General Science

• The Problem With Peer Review
• When the population approach to prevention puts the health of individuals at risk

Food Science

• Canned foods are as nutritious as fresh foods

Evidence for the Moral Panic

ADOPTION AND FERTILITY

• Australian woman told she was too fat to adopt (January 2003, The Age, Australia)
  
• In the UK, fat women can’t adopt (June 2006)
• Kylie Lannigan told she was ‘too fat to adopt’ (June 2007, Australia)
• Gary Stocklaufer denied adoption request because he was fat (July 2007, United States)
• New Zealand bans fat woman from entering the country (November 2007, Big Fat Blog, NZ)
• Obese women not allowed to get IVF treatments (December 2008, BBC News, UK)
• Charlotte and Damien Hall denied for adoption because of their BMI (January 2009, The Guardian, UK)

CHILD ABUSE

• Couple accused of starving baby so she doesn’t get fat (January 28, 2010, Fox News, USA)
• Grandad arrested over Grand Canyon hike (September 2, 2011, The Age, Australia)
• Parents allegedly starved baby because of obesity concerns (November 8, 2011, ABC News, USA)
• Grandmother to face capital charges in granddaughter’s death (March 1, 2012, CBS News, USA)

CHILD REMOVAL

• Oz parents to be held responsible for their kid’s obesity (February 2, 2009, The Indian Express, India)
• Parents of fat children told they may be put up for adoption (September 5, 2011, Mirror News, UK/Scotland)
• Ohio puts 200-lb third grader into foster care (November 27, 2011, MSNBC, USA)
• ‘Obese’ 5 year old taken from parents (December 5, 2011, iOL News, UK)

DEMONIZATION OF FAT PARENTS, AND PARENTS OF FAT CHILDREN

• Is childhood obesity a symptom of neglect? (July 16, 2010, TIME Magazine, USA)
• Study: Children are likely to become overweight by mimicking behaviors of obese parents NOTE: The study did not in fact show that children become overweight by mimicking the behaviors of fat parents, despite that scare-headline. It just showed that fat parents are much more likely to have fat children — which makes sense, given body weight is 77% heritable (July 13, 2009, NYDailyNews, USA)

MEDICINE AND HEALTH CARE

• Doctors’ ultimatum to kidney transplant wife: Lose 42lb in nine months or watch your husband die (March 2009, Daily Mail, UK – h/t richie79)

TAXATION AND PUBLIC POLICY

• Fat people should have their food taxed to ‘pay for healthcare’
• Don’t operate on smokers and the obese, says NHS Health Secretary (February 2007, Daily Mail, UK)
• City government promotes lie to motivate weight loss via fear; anti-obesity agenda is to blame
• The 1998 BMI definition changes made 30 million Americans overweight or obese OVERNIGHT
• Obesity bias based on disgust, study says (2010)
• Global governments must get ‘tough on obesity,’ in which the commentariat helpfully suggests plus-size clothing be ‘prescription-only,’ amongst other astoundingly panicked and bigoted replies (August 25, 2011, BBC Health, UK)

TRANSPORTATION

• Southwest, Sizism, and Institutionalized Oppression (Athia, YouTube, August 2011)
• On Kevin Smith and Flying Fat (BigLiberty, February 15, 2010)

WORK AND EMPLOYMENT

• Obesity can mean less pay

Libertarian/Anarcho-capitalist Arguments Against the Obesity Moral Panic

• The freedom to be fat
• The new obesity pandemic, as same as the old obesity pandemic
• The assault on food
• Public health and the tyranny of the common good
• Are food trucks really like child molesters?
• Is Your Flab Imposing a Burden on Society? (May 1, 2012)

BOOM. Everything you ever needed to know to argue with your fat phobic friends and family.