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merchimerchThis article from Science Daily talks about researchers' analysis of 31 diet studies.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/04/070404162428.htm
The most striking thing for me was that in its analysis it noted that studies on regaining weight (which usually last 2-4 years) are not sufficiently long enough, since people are still gaining weight back at that point. That would support the research I recently heard about that 95-98% of dieters gain their weight back eventually.
It also noted that dieting is a good indicator for future weight gain.
Go figure that these studies end up putting diet products/programs in a better light than the smoke and mirrors that they are (even though those statistics are still pretty dismal).
Does anyone have a recent link to the profits made in the diet industry? I know there was something floating around - here is a link to a 2003 article calling it a $40 billion dollar industry.
http://www.usnews.com/usnews/health/articles/030616/16profit.htm
This stuff is the reason I just want to kick popular culture/the media/advertisers most of the time. The issue isn't really about health or getting people to the weight that is optimal for their body and metabolism, it is about making people (especially women) into good consumers.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/04/070404162428.htm
The most striking thing for me was that in its analysis it noted that studies on regaining weight (which usually last 2-4 years) are not sufficiently long enough, since people are still gaining weight back at that point. That would support the research I recently heard about that 95-98% of dieters gain their weight back eventually.
It also noted that dieting is a good indicator for future weight gain.
Go figure that these studies end up putting diet products/programs in a better light than the smoke and mirrors that they are (even though those statistics are still pretty dismal).
Does anyone have a recent link to the profits made in the diet industry? I know there was something floating around - here is a link to a 2003 article calling it a $40 billion dollar industry.
http://www.usnews.com/usnews/health/articles/030616/16profit.htm
This stuff is the reason I just want to kick popular culture/the media/advertisers most of the time. The issue isn't really about health or getting people to the weight that is optimal for their body and metabolism, it is about making people (especially women) into good consumers.
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no subject
Date: 2007-04-06 01:13 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-04-08 11:08 am (UTC)It's more profitable to sell people processed food laden with additives & chemicals, and having done so then sell them patent weight-loss medicines, exercise machines, sweatshop-made running shoes, fad diets & weird supplements than it would be to sell them wholesome food and let them walk to work.
The patent medicine/diet/supplement industries have vast marketing budgets and we'll never be able to persuade our governments to allocate more than a tiny fraction of those amounts to consumer education.
A country choosing to opt-out of this cycle would soon be in trouble since US National Security Strategy (http://www.whitehouse.gov/nsc/nss.html) now says – in effect – .
no subject
Date: 2007-04-08 03:30 pm (UTC)No I don't think we'll ever get rid of the diet/image industry, no matter how harmful it is to our population.
That said, I'm a big believer in opportunities for individual, and grass roots resistance. Perhaps they don't provide a "fix" and won't reach everyone, but they can do some good in helping people read the way diets are presented.