On Thu, 2 Aug 2012 18:41:44 +0000 (UTC), Doug Freyburger
wrote:

[...]
The principle anchors the comforting American belief that personal
responsibility explains all of our ills.

If personal responsibility worked you could go to the mall and not see
fat people.

I don't know exactly what you mean by that, Doug. How does "personal
responsibility" not work? On the other hand, either you accept
personal responsibility for your actions, or you don't. Those who do,
don't usually have these problems.

Humans instinctively crave food that is carby, fat and salty. The carby
part is addictive so products stress carbs. Chemicals other than sodium
chloride can be added to alt to increase appetite. Companies don't even
have to have a deliberate plan to take advantage of these instinctive
cravings. All companies need to do is make more of the products that
sell better, make less of the products that sell worse, keep trying
variations on products to continue development to incrase profitability.
Any product that hits the instinctive human cravings will sell better.
Any product that triggers addictive behavior patterns will sell better.
The market will tune the rest until we have vast numbers of fat people
even wtihout any intent for that to happen.

Well, you've identified the problem, but...

It validates all that wasted
time on the treadmill that people like Kolata and others endorse.

Exercise is beneficial for other reasons.

You bet. But it doesn't really help anyone lose weight, and can even
help to increase your weight, chance of injury, etc. Better to lose
the weight first, primarily through diet and very moderate (safe)
exercise, then, once the weight is lost, decide on what kind of
exercise is right for you.

It keeps us watching shows like The Biggest Loser.

Think of how these folks work. When they are not doing other exercise
they are on treadmills to fill out 16 hour days. it comes down to "A
marathon is a pound of fat". They keep these folks doing at least that
much work every day. They do it to the exclusion of their jobs and away
from their families. They don't do it as their "job". They do it as
their "life".

Yeah, and it's sad to watch.

It leaves the door
open to low-calorie, high-carbohydrate food products that make the
economy hum, are portable, do not require we learn to cook, make
children stop crying, and taste good. Any efforts at reporting science
to the contrary will always have a rough road."

And all that industry need do is observe what sells well, make more of
it, and advertise it. No ulterior motives othe than profit are needed.

Yep. GREED kills.

--
Dogman

"I have approximate answers and possible beliefs in different degrees of certainty
about different things, but I'm not absolutely sure of anything" - Richard Feynman