Does obesity contribute to global warming?

by Maggie Vink (Subscribe to Maggie Vink's posts)
May 18th 2008 11:00AM

Categories: Diet & Weight Loss, Alternative & Green Health

A research team at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine is pinpointing obesity as a key cause of global warming. Their argument is that it costs more in fuel to transport heavier people. Also, obese people require more food to sustain themselves.

The World Health Organization predicts that by 2015, more than 700 million people worldwide will be obese. The London-based research team feels this overweight trend will have a hefty impact on the environment as well as health.

The researchers found that people who are obese consume nearly 18% more food than their thinner counterparts. This can impact the environment by creating a higher food supply demand and by causing more food travel miles. Also, the researchers state that thin people are more likely to walk than rely on cars for travel. What do you think?

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Comments (11)

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

adamissimo 5-18-2008 @ 12:17PM

Errr... 700 people? That figure isn't really staggering. Perhaps it is a mistake?

Tricia 5-18-2008 @ 12:23PM

700 people is nothing considering there are 6,668,465,932 in the world accordng to http://www.census.gov/ipc/www/popclockworld.html. I mean really can these people doing that much to increase global warming?

Maggie Vink 5-18-2008 @ 12:22PM

Sheesh. 700 million is the correct number. Thank you for pointing my error out to me. It's corrected now.

Kyle 5-18-2008 @ 1:14PM

Think about the extra weight on planes, requiring extra gas/fuel too.

Anna 5-28-2008 @ 4:06PM

Few obese people fly because the seats are so cramped. The seating is uncomfortable for most people. So the impact of obesity on fuel costs to fly is minimal. This whole study is rediculous and just another means for discrimination. Not all obese people sit around shoveling food all day. I own a gym, do personal training and nutritional counseling, and I know that many overweight and obese people just eat foods that are not good for them. They eat high calorie and high fat foods. They do not eat often enough, many only one time per day. Most people should eat small healthy meals, 4-6 times per day. And most are very sedentary and do not exercise. So that puts a dent in their theory about it taking more energy to get them moving from eating more food. It does take more energy to move, but they are not neccessarily eating more food. It is short burst energy they get from what they currently eat. What about the people who have faster metabolism's who require 5000 calories per day just to keep from losing weight? You'd be surprised to know how many people do have that problem. Or how about the athlete or bodybuilder / powerlifter who consume 5-8000 calories per day? Hard to imagine someone eating that much food, but you can and it's easier than you think. Just something to think about when these stupid, one sided studies come out. All this irresponsible study will do is create more discrimination and finger pointing and send more obese people into depression, which will make them fatter or worse yet, suicide. It will send them into a desparate spin to try to lose weight by trying anything and everything, and most will not be healthy choices, but choices of desparation.

Paulidan 5-18-2008 @ 5:11PM

You know the hoax people are getting angry and desparate when they start lashing out at fatties for causing all their problems.

Judy 5-18-2008 @ 5:10PM

It makes sense to me. Higher fuel costs, more food needed to support higher weights, more medical costs ... the list could go on. I can't remember the last time I saw an obese person biking to work, for example. Probably more animal products going into food for obese people (just proportionately, it would make sense) which contributes to the problem.

Dr. J 5-18-2008 @ 5:16PM

Actually the first time I heard this point of view was from the head of "Friends of the Earth," and a former president of the Sierra Club in 1990! He talked about the importance of staying healthy and fit and the additional costs that society has from those who do not.

marcie0305 5-18-2008 @ 9:48PM

Actually, I place more blame on the types of foods Americans are eating - meat production is one of the biggest contributors to pollution and global warming,

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_effects_of_meat_production

along with processed foods to include those trucked and shipped long distances to get to your local store or "superstore".

People tend to eat what's on front of them, what they ate growing up, and what is cheapest. we've got to change the system by choosing local, fresh (read organic) and start teaching our children how to eat healthily and responsibly.

~Marcie
http://feedingblackmail.blogspot.com

Jay 5-23-2008 @ 11:24AM

I don't think it's obese people, but the American lifestyle in general. True, it takes more fuel for obese people to drive, fly, etc., but I don't think it's significant enough to argue that obese people are a main contributor to global warming. This is a scapegoat argument.

I would argue that the American lifestyle is a strong contributor due to the driving culture; very few people find alternative travel methods such as biking and the public transportation system in many places is non-existent. Also, Americans don't find time in their busy schedules to make healthy foods, relying on and giving boost to processed food companies. It's the lifestyle, not the people who fall victim to the culture, that is the factor we should be focused on.

http://jlyoung23.wordpress.com

Pam 5-23-2008 @ 12:56PM

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