Date: Mon, 23 Jun 1997 06:30:41 -0400
From: Thomas F Brown <tombrown@jhunix.hcf.jhu.edu>
Subject: Re: Obesity and Discrimination
To: socgrad@csf.colorado.edu
Message-id: <97Jun23.063042edt.1338-7@jhunix.hcf.jhu.edu>
Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT
>Assumptions never suffice to answer empirical questions. There are a lot of
>physically fit, well exercised, healthy, low fat and low calorie dieted,
>overweight  people. Moreover, there are a lot of recently completed and
>reported studies that rebut the common assumptions you share, that also has
>dominated the medical understanding of the subject. This may be slow to
>change, even with the large-scale, multi-center, longitudinal, "conclusive"
>study that was just reported out that showed that neither diet, nor
>exercise are predictive factors for obesity, but rather that genetics is
>ephiphenomenal in predicting obesity.

Epiphenomenal to what? In your paragraph below you imply that genetic
predisposition is the primary factor.

 This agrees with laboratory findings
>as well. (My husband is a biomedical researcher, which is how I get updates
>from that arena.) 
>        The medical assumptions may be slow to change for the reason that
>"everybody knows (or assumes)" that dieting and exercise are determinants
>of obesity, and that genetics are just predisposing factors. This is not to
>say that there are some people genetically programmed for medium or low
>weight who  might put excess pounds on by inactivity, lack of exercise, or
>compulsive eating. The findings do indicate, however, that the majority of
>obesity is not caused by these behaviors. The current advice is that obese
>people should follow a diet and exercise program to benefit their health,
>even if it is not expected to result in significant long-term enduring
>weight loss. Obesity may be like brown hair or blue eyes. There are also
>studies that indicate that women who are blond are also stereotyped.
>Jeanne Calabro