Fast Food Makes You Fat!

Another fine use of scientific funds proving the obvious…

Study says eating fast food makes you fat.

Frequent consumers also face greater diabetes risk.

The Associated Press
Updated: 7:01 p.m. ET Dec. 30, 2004

LONDON - A new study gives scientific clout to a conclusion many already see as obvious: Eating lots of fast food makes you fat and increases the chance of developing diabetes.

A study published in the Lancet medical journal this week found those who frequently ate fast food gained 10 pounds more than those who did so less often, and were more than twice as likely to develop an insulin disorder linked to diabetes.
?Fast food is commonly recognized to have very poor nutritional quality,? said Dr. David Ludwig, director of the obesity program at Children?s Hospital Boston and the senior author of the study. ?But there have been very few studies, essentially no long-term studies that have documented the effects of this dietary pattern on the key chronic diseases of Western civilization ? obesity, Type 2 diabetes, heart disease.?
?In the absence of such data, the fast-food industry continues to claim that fast food can be part of a healthful diet,? he said.
Ludwig?s U.S.-based team followed 3,000 young people enrolled in a study of cardiac health over 15 years, giving them medical checkups and asking questions about diet, physical activity and other lifestyle factors.
Even after the scientists used statistical techniques to cancel out the impact of the other factors, those who said they visited fast-food outlets twice a week or more gained 10 pounds more over the course of the study than those who ate fast food less than once a week.
They also had more than double the chance of developing insulin resistance, considered a predictor of Type 2 diabetes, the form of the disease linked to obesity.
?These findings suggest that fast food as presently consumed can really not be part of a healthful lifestyle,? Ludwig said.
Arne Astrup, an obesity expert at the Royal Veterinary and Agricultural University in Copenhagen, Denmark, said the study was the first long-term look at the relationship between fast-food consumption and diabetes.
?It?s quite a powerful message,? he said. ?I?m happy to see that we have some more solid evidence to substantiate that this is really unhealthy.?
No time to cook
Astrup said the huge portions at most fast-food restaurants and the high caloric density of their food were probably responsible for the obesity link. Because even small amounts of fast food contain lots of calories, people consume a great deal without feeling full and soon get hungry again and eat more, he said.
While some fast-food chains have begun offering healthier alternatives, including fruit, Astrup said those were only ?weak trends in the right direction.?
In an essay accompanying the Lancet article, he suggested the chains make a more serious effort to boost the quality of their offerings, by using leaner meats, whole-grain bread, lower-fat fries, low-sugar soft drinks and more vegetables.
McDonald?s director of nutrition, Dr. Cathy Kapica, said the issue was not where people ate, but the type of food they chose and the size of portions.
Kapica said McDonald?s restaurants had introduced a variety of portion sizes, were serving more salads and fruit, and were providing nutritional information on trayliners, in-store brochures and a Web site.
?The key is to work together to educate and empower people to make smart choices when dining and to encourage physical activity,? Kapica said.
Dr. Rudolph Leibel, an obesity expert at Columbia University in New York, said that while the study was sound and its conclusions likely true, it was important not to demonize fast food as the sole cause of the obesity epidemic in wealthy nations.
Fast-food restaurants, he said, are responding to a real societal need ? the inability of many families in which both parents work to find time to cook for themselves.
The restaurants provide a real service by selling cheap, quick food, Leibel said, arguing that the main problem is in the quality and health effects of what they serve.
?I don?t think the problem is with fast food per se,? he said. ?The problem is that it?s the wrong kind of food.?
The need for improvements there, Leibel said, is the key lesson of the paper, ?and the only way to do that really … is to have an informed consumer.?

? 2004 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

[quote]RoadWarrior wrote:
Another fine use of scientific funds proving the obvious…

Study says eating fast food makes you fat.[/quote]

Someone actually funded this study? Fast food doesn’t make you fat. That is like saying pizza makes you fat, or tacos make you fat. None of that makes you fat. Eating more calories than your body needs on a consistent basis makes you fat. We ate the same shit as kids and there wasn’t an obesity epidemic. People are always looking for something else to blame for what happens to them other than their own actions. Where is the study that proves that having no self control makes you fat, or one about sitting on your ass all day with your only exercise being reaching for the remote or feverishly pressing buttons on a Playstation joystick makes you fat?

Wait…I got it, FOOD makes you fat. Therefore, all food should be banned like pro-hormones.

I don’t know, I think Andro and a good diet are probably safer than a Double Whopper with 25 pounds of fries and a 50 gallon drum of Coke. But then Andro is produced by anything with the power of Burger King.

well,i think everybody here knows if you eat twice as many calories as you burn off, you’re gonna get fat. granted, fast food isn’t the best nutritional speaking, but if you don’t eat it exclusively you won’t have a problem.

personally, when i was younger i ate the Double Quarter Pounder Meal (SuperSized, of course) every day to help me bulk, and i didn’t get fat. just needed that many damn calories…

[quote]Professor X wrote:
RoadWarrior wrote:
Another fine use of scientific funds proving the obvious…

Study says eating fast food makes you fat.

Someone actually funded this study? Fast food doesn’t make you fat. That is like saying pizza makes you fat, or tacos make you fat. None of that makes you fat. Eating more calories than your body needs on a consistent basis makes you fat. We ate the same shit as kids and there wasn’t an obesity epidemic. People are always looking for something else to blame for what happens to them other than their own actions. Where is the study that proves that having no self control makes you fat, or one about sitting on your ass all day with your only exercise being reaching for the remote or feverishly pressing buttons on a Playstation joystick makes you fat?

Wait…I got it, FOOD makes you fat. Therefore, all food should be banned like pro-hormones. [/quote]
This is so true, i was thinking about it earlier. If you eat five MCDONALDS QUARTER POUNDER aday but spend five hours doing cardios plus some workout then you wont get fat but you’ll get HUGE(in terms of muscle ofcourse).
So food doesnt make you fat, you make yourself fat.

It’s funny that the blame goes not on the fat dumbass, not on the FDA/USDA for allowing this shit to be sold as food but on McDonald’s who’s doing what anyone trying to sell something would do - working to push the product withing given limitations.

i’ll take a guess and say the bone is buried not so much in the main course as in the accessories. the 32 ounce coke, the fries, the corn syruped ketchup, apple pie etc. hell, even a 12 ounce coke…those things are sneaky in the huge amounts of easily consumed calories they provide.

interesting to note the guy in that movie “supersize me” who at 2-6 big macs everyday for like twenty years and had his name on the sign outside keeping his tally of 2,000 or whatever , was built like keith richards. i don’t even think he had a gut on him. if i remember correctly he said he only ate big macs and never got fries or cokes or anything else.

obviously he didn’t exceed his caloric limits. his complexion did have a clammy sort of special-sauce glow to it though.

If they were allowed to, fast food restaurants would put nicotine in their damned burgers.

Commerce may be key in this day and age, but is it always appropriate to sell people what they want – without at least making sure they know what they are buying?

Anyway, no, I’m not trying to make excuses for fat people. Not in the slightest. I’m just concerned that profits and dollars so easily replace human values nowadays.

Consider the cigarette industry in years past.

[quote]vroom wrote:
It’s funny that the blame goes not on the fat dumbass, not on the FDA/USDA for allowing this shit to be sold as food but on McDonald’s who’s doing what anyone trying to sell something would do - working to push the product withing given limitations.

If they were allowed to, fast food restaurants would put nicotine in their damned burgers.

Commerce may be key in this day and age, but is it always appropriate to sell people what they want – without at least making sure they know what they are buying?

Anyway, no, I’m not trying to make excuses for fat people. Not in the slightest. I’m just concerned that profits and dollars so easily replace human values nowadays.

Consider the cigarette industry in years past.[/quote]

couldn’t agree more

Yeah, they’re assholes, no doubt. But we are the idiots for loosening up the restrictions and letting them autoregulate their ethics, which they are completely incapable of and should never be allowed to do.

All sides are guilty here, but demand always comes first. There’s a demand for cheap fast food. And if you work out you can be just as ripped and lean eating at McDonald’s as with anything. You’ll be unhealthy, but it’s still a meal with a given amount of calories and macronutrients. People get fat because they don’t move.

Macca’s has been slammed over her in Aust over their salad menu. One of the salads was found to have MORE calories than a Big Mac, and just as much fat.

So much for the healthier choice.

I eat KFC and Subway nearly every day and Im not fat.

In Subway you can get lean meat and whole bread with salad - pretty damn healthy!!

The only slighty bad thing about KFC is the white bread (and the spotty geek who servesa it to you)

[quote]Professor X wrote:
Fast food doesn’t make you fat. That is like saying pizza makes you fat, or tacos make you fat. None of that makes you fat. Eating more calories than your body needs on a consistent basis makes you fat.[/quote]

EXACTLY! Once I saw the guy from Super Size Me was consuming double+ his daily caloric need, the movie was moot. Had he eaten what his body needed, calorie wise, it would have been a completely different story health and composition wise. Sure his health would have surely dropped but not at the astronomical speed the movie claimed it did.

[quote]PGA200X wrote:
Had he eaten what his body needed, calorie wise, it would have been a completely different story health and composition wise. [/quote]

I have to disagree there. While his weight may not have changed significantly, his health definately wouldn’t have been unchanged, maybe not to the extent it had, but you can’t say living off of crap food for a month even not in excess won’t cause some health problems.

[quote]PGA200X wrote:
Professor X wrote:
Fast food doesn’t make you fat. That is like saying pizza makes you fat, or tacos make you fat. None of that makes you fat. Eating more calories than your body needs on a consistent basis makes you fat.

EXACTLY! Once I saw the guy from Super Size Me was consuming double+ his daily caloric need, the movie was moot. Had he eaten what his body needed, calorie wise, it would have been a completely different story health and composition wise. Sure his health would have surely dropped but not at the astronomical speed the movie claimed it did.[/quote]

no i don’t think moot, that’s exactly the point. he could’ve gotten all his base calories from a single meal. but no one’s gonna eat just one meal a day. and if one meal causes you to over-eat, then three of those meals is almost absurd. i think the point was how absurdly easy it is to overeat even when you think you’re just getting your 3 squares.

[quote]jehovasfitness wrote:
PGA200X wrote:
Had he eaten what his body needed, calorie wise, it would have been a completely different story health and composition wise.

I have to disagree there. While his weight may not have changed significantly, his health definately wouldn’t have been unchanged, maybe not to the extent it had, but you can’t say living off of crap food for a month even not in excess won’t cause some health problems.[/quote]

Dude, his very next sentence after that was,

[quote]Professor X wrote:
jehovasfitness wrote:
PGA200X wrote:
Had he eaten what his body needed, calorie wise, it would have been a completely different story health and composition wise.

I have to disagree there. While his weight may not have changed significantly, his health definately wouldn’t have been unchanged, maybe not to the extent it had, but you can’t say living off of crap food for a month even not in excess won’t cause some health problems.

Dude, his very next sentence after that was,

Sure his health would have surely dropped but not at the astronomical speed the movie claimed it did. [/quote]

DOH!, reading owned me

LONDON - A new study gives scientific clout to a conclusion many already see as obvious: Eating lots of fast food makes you fat and increases the chance of developing diabetes.

Take out the word “fast” and it is still true.

Too much food will make you fat.

As far as a stupid movie about eating all your meals at McDonalds, what if he decided to overeat nothing but bread for a month? Or nothing but fish? Or nothing but apples?

I sure he would not have been feeling good about that either.

[quote]swivel wrote:

no i don’t think moot, that’s exactly the point. he could’ve gotten all his base calories from a single meal. but no one’s gonna eat just one meal a day. and if one meal causes you to over-eat, then three of those meals is almost absurd. i think the point was how absurdly easy it is to overeat even when you think you’re just getting your 3 squares. [/quote]

What if he would have taken the one big meal and spread it out over the whole day as well as munched on a few vegetables?

Would McDonalds have had him assassinated for doing this?

He made a stupid movie that does not prove a thing other than acting like a glutton is not good for you.

[quote]jehovasfitness wrote:
Professor X wrote:
jehovasfitness wrote:
PGA200X wrote:
Had he eaten what his body needed, calorie wise, it would have been a completely different story health and composition wise.

I have to disagree there. While his weight may not have changed significantly, his health definately wouldn’t have been unchanged, maybe not to the extent it had, but you can’t say living off of crap food for a month even not in excess won’t cause some health problems.

Dude, his very next sentence after that was,

Sure his health would have surely dropped but not at the astronomical speed the movie claimed it did.

DOH!, reading owned me

[/quote]

You, dickhead!