Taubes on Why We Get Fat
Gary Taubes, author of Why We Get Fat, talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about why we get fat and the nature of evidence in a complex system. The current mainstream view is that we get fat because we eat...
The Economics of Obesity
Sep 25 2006Russ Roberts talks with Darius Lakdawalla of Rand and the National Bureau of Economic Research on the economics of obesity, how much fatter are Americans and why. How much is due to the spread of fast food vs. the falling price of food and the change in the U.S. workplace?
READER COMMENTS
Grayson
Sep 26 2006 at 2:50am
Another problem with the BMI is that it only measures people’s mass against one dimension. People are not beanstalks, though. They grow sideways and forwards and back. In other words, people have not only been getting taller, but they’re getting more muscular. Since muscle mass is more dense than fat mass, it’s not uncommon for people – particularly men – who are fit and in shape to blow the curve on the population’s average BMI.
As an example, according to this: the average BMI on the Texas Rangers is 27.8, which makes them all well overweight.
Obviously, the Texas Rangers is not a perfect sample (but then, they also skew baseball players for height as much as weight – not everyone is a slugger). But it could be worse: see the Dodgers.
Now that I think of it, women are probably also blowing the BMI. Back in the day, there were a lot less women with the sort of fit, strong bodies that we have today.
Quine
Sep 28 2006 at 4:22am
Why comments are light gray on white? Could you make it more readable? Thank you very much!
G’day
Lauren Landsburg
Sep 30 2006 at 7:25am
Hi, Quine. You asked:
Many blogs use some kind of visual cue such as a color differential to distinguish comments from the author’s writing. On EconTalk that’s probably not necessary because our commenters have been very thoughtful! I’ve reset the comment color from gray to black.
Thanks for your help!
–Econlib Editor
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