Fat: The Latest Cause of Climate Change?

According to Phil Edwards and Ian Roberts, of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, obese people cause global warming.

Wow.

In a letter to the medical journal The Lancet (registration required), the two scientists argue that obese people have a more significant responsibility for rising food prices and for greenhouse gas emissions because, on average, an obese person needs 18 percent more food, as well as more fuel to transport both themselves and their higher quantities of food.

This statement was included in a letter to the editor, rather than an article: The Lancet is a peer reviewed journal and does not publish articles that are not backed up with significant research and have gone through a rigorous review process. And I haven’t seen any research that supports this claim — or proves that people of a given weight use significantly more fuel and food than body builders who eat significant amounts of food as well; the difference is, of course, how individuals use the nutrients they consume, either by building muscle mass or generally gaining weight. To put it mildly, I just don’t buy it.

To be entirely fair, I don’t suggest contacting either Edwards or Roberts to express any sort of outrage. They were attempting to suggest that encouraging public policies that would promote walking and cycling in an effort to reduce fuel prices. I don’t believe their intent was to suggest anything further.

Photo by Orbz