Skeptics Stack Exchange
Skeptics Stack Exchange

Questions tagged [obesity]

the condition of being grossly fat or overweight.

26 questions
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Is Fructose the #1 source of obesity in the United States today?

Not my belief but one I ran into over at health SE. Interested to see what data there is beyond my (and tyler's) findings. Argument for: https://health.stackexchange.com/a/7648/5266 -dead link Argument against:…
John
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Do scientists use monosodium-glutamate (MSG) to fatten lab mice/rats?

I recently came across a video (that is anti-MSG) that made the claim that scientist use MSG to fatten lab rats/mice. I can't seem to find any source for this information. I can find examples of studies where baby mice were given large amounts of…
Hackmodford
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1 answer

Is obesity correlated with solitary and/or social eating?

The basis of this question is a pair of newspaper articles that appeared in the Guardian just over a year apart. I know, it's not a scholarly journal, and the articles aren't remotely scientific. The two articles highlight divergent conclusions…
user1802
5
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1 answer

Is height about as heritable as obesity?

The Thin Privilege FAQ explains: Weight is about 50% - 80% heritable (sources disagree, but here’s a study that shows it to be 77% heritable). Height, for comparison, isn’t 100% heritable (I’ve seen it pegged in the 70% - 80% range but I still need…
rlms
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Does a high BMI increase COVID-19’s severity?

I have been reading in the press about how being obesity can increase the severity of the disease. An article in Wired, Covid-19 Does Not Discriminate by Body Weight (17 April, 2020), seems to indicate this isn’t the case. Is there enough data to…
Anansias
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Is obesity causing diabetes and other illness, and not just correlated with?

According to the World Health Organisation website: (emphasis mine) What are common health consequences of overweight and obesity? Raised BMI is a major risk factor for noncommunicable diseases such as: cardiovascular diseases (mainly heart…
Bregalad
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Is the correlation in betwen childhood trauma and addiction stronger than the correlation in between diabetes and obesity?

I came across this image on the internet, which makes the claim, "There is a stronger link between childhood trauma and addiction, than there is between obesity and diabetes. Two thirds of addicts report being abused as children." Doing some…
James G.
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Does the average European adult weigh 71kg?

The Daily Mail says that the average weight of both males and females in Europe is UN 70.8kg in this article: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2160934/Overweight-obese-threaten-world-food-security-study-warns.html giving no sources,…
DarkLightA
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Does central heating contribute to obesity?

I remember a letter sent to the Financial Times some time last year from a farmer who claimed it wasn't surprising that obesity rates have increased because nowadays, with the ubiquity of central heating, we expend less energy simply on keeping…
thosphor
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Are plastics making us fat and giving us diabetes?

A recent widely reported news story (example report from the Independent) suggested that one explanation for the modern rise in obesity was not too much food or two little exercise but many of chemical additives common in the modern environment…
matt_black
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Is fat as bad as we are led to believe?

According to Fat is back: Rediscover the delights of lard, dripping and suet in The Independent (2009), the idea that eating a diet high in saturated fat clogs up the arteries and leads to heart disease is based on two weak reports; and the American…
Chris Rogers
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