As someone who’s struggled with his weight all his life (and who comes from a family with similar problems), I’ve long been fascinated with the science of weight and obesity; many years ago I listened to a Quirks & Quarks segment detailing the theory that the modern obesity epidemic was the result of a bird flu that affected our gut flora and changed our metabolisms to make us hungrier and more susceptible to convert the food we ate to fat.
I’ve not been able to locate that episode since, but the theory has lingered in my memory. This morning, I found this long excerpt from The Secret Life of Fat: The Science Behind the Body’s Least Understood Organ and What It Means for You, Sylvia Tara’s 2016 book about Nikhil Dhurandhar and Richard Atkinson’s research at the University of Wisconsin, Madison on the role of viruses first found in poultry in causing obesity in humans and other animals.
I lost ~100lbs in 2002/3, simply by cutting out carbs – while maintaining a low-activity/high-calorie diet. I’ve kept most of it off since then (though over the years, I’ve had to increase my activity and reduce my calories as I got older). It’s obvious to me that weight is not a simple matter of calories burned and calories eaten – some people gain weight more easily and others do not. Some people need to eat more than others to maintain their weight, irrespective of activity levels and their muscle-mass.
The introduction to Tara’s book was sufficiently interesting to me that I’ve ordered the book. Significantly, it insists that weight is not a moral matter – not a matter of low willpower or other failings.
