8 Reasons Our Waistlines Are Expanding

An article by Robin Dixon in Live Science today outline why in their view our waistlines are expanding.

If obesity is a disease, like cancer or heart disease, as researchers stress, it is time to stop blaming lack of willpower for the extra poundage and ask — non-judgmentally — why are we so fat? From better hygiene to foods that mimic drugs, the answers may shake up your diet.

8. The Government

In 1998, 29 million people suddenly became overweight without gaining an ounce. That summer, the U.S. government announced new guidelines lowering the threshold of what classifies a person as overweight. Previously, if your body mass index (BMI) was less than 28 for men, or 27 for women, you were considered “normal.” Now only BMIs of 25 or below are considered healthy. (BMI is a ratio of weight to height, and is considered an indicator of how much body fat a person has.)

7. Better Hygiene

While our food-stuffed, exercise-starved, modern lifestyles are still the most popular scapegoats, in the future, we might also blame frequent hand-washing and cleaner water.

In experiments done on mice, researchers have found that certain intestinal bacteria can help a body suck more calories out of the same amount of food and even increase a person’s appetite. It is possible these bacteria gained prominence as we wiped out competing bacteria with antibiotics and better hygiene practices, said senior researcher Andrew Gewirtz at the Emory University School of Medicine in Georgia.

The finding does not suggest that obesity is an infectious disease — it is nearly impossible to change your intestinal helpers after the first few years, or even days, of life — so don’t expect an obesity antibiotic anytime soon.

View source for the other 6 reasons!

Main Picture -Dreamstime

What are your thoughts on the subject?