I am in London right now and one thing that is noticeable is that while there are obese people, there are noticeably fewer. The most recent data available shows about 26% of English are obese while nearly 36% of Americans are obese. Obesity, a term we throw around a lot is defined by a weight of 20% or more of one’s ideal weight. To be sure there are more variables, how much muscle mass you have, etc., but, this is a good enough number to use. Even though there is “just” a 10% difference between how fat we are and how fat the English are it IS noticeable. What surprises me is why the difference is only 10%.

In London, people get around by walking and using the fantastic public transportation system they have. They use bicycles more than we do. They don’t typically go the grocery and stock up, but, purchase foods in smaller amounts and carry them home by foot. Most local groceries have no parking lots attached. Food is much more costly than in the U.S. – even if adjusted for currency and salary differences between the U.S. and U.K.

Beef, for example, is much more expensive- I would guess about twice the cost per cut and weight when compared to the U.S. Portions seem to be smaller typically than what we would expect to serve at home or consume in a restaurant in the U.S. although portion size does seem to rival our gigantic servings increasingly. Lamb, lower in fats than beef, is served more frequently. So, why is 26% of England fat and like America, getting fatter? Well, certainly the Western style meat and potatoes diet has some blame, but, the British are not forced to stuff their faces. They usually do not cross streets when the light is red because they could get killed. They exercise their decision making abilities. They do not jump into pools if they cannot swim for the same reason.

While it is true that breaking a habit whether it’s smoking, methamphetamines, chocolate or fatty foods is hard, it is not impossible and with all the disincentives they already have I am stymied. One other thing, the fatty traditional English diet has been around for decades and decades, why is obesity becoming an issue all of a sudden? I think like in the US, epigenetics may be the culprit. I have written about epigenetics more extensively in previous blogs on my web site. But, in a snap shot imagine a way that what happens to you today alters your gene structure which is then passed on to your progeny. What if the lack of food during the war in UK has resulted as a result of genetics in a gene expression such that the survival response inborn in your progeny is to hoard food when food is available? This hypothesis is NOT impossible. We know that it happens. If my hunch is right (and I know something like my hypothesis is correct because I can see no other rational explanation) then we are wasting our time:

1. Pushing more exercise to deal with obesity because the British exercise MUCH MORE than we do in everyday life.
2. Trying lame brain ideas like Mayor Bloomberg of New York who believes that you can regulate what you put in your mouth and that this will resolve the issue. In fact, if I am right, it could make you and generations that follow fatter!!!!
3. Making costly disincentives for people who are fat as if this will make them eat less and,
4. Blaming industry alone for producing the awful food we guzzle down when perhaps they are only responding ($) to what people want rather than what industry thinks they can foist on consumer markets to make them fat and sick.

I think that we are fighting a biologic imperative and it is getting worse in kids as we go generation to generation. You may have heard about leptin from the brain and how it relates to obesity. There is a lot of research looking at managing this and other obesity related hormones safely.

The real answer, however, is hard science, genetic manipulation and undoing what history may have done to the very essence (at least biologically) of our lives. I think that Obama, Romney and the face off US Congress had ought to AGREE on a WAR ON OBESITY that includes private enterprise, academic institutions and government much as we collaborated in WWII but now in finding a cure for obesity though genetic research. It will create jobs and unlock lots of other biologic secrets with global applications along the way. To those of you who say we can’t afford to do this…………I say, we cannot afford NOT to and soon!