Laff at the journalism trade: Obesity 'panics' US

Next time you go laughing at a bit of serious news, just think - because next time it could be you.

I've heard they can be even more pernicious when still attached to the snake.

Snakeheads are actually fish. It has been made against the law to import them, the government is so panicked. I even saw a movie on the sci-fi channel called "Snakehead Terror." My roomate in college had a snakehead in a fish tank near the window. Everyday, we were terror struck.

Tell your friend not to panic, as the condition is probably brought on as a result of abuse by an obese parent, him/herself probably the adult child of an obese person. It's all about trying to throw up limits, a desperate attempt the make order in the chaos of all the foreigners who have recently invaded. Especially that one group. You know the one. In fact...wait...stand over in the light...call 911...omg

Ned, I read this as sneaking up on Irish women who look like books. Now THAT'S sad!

Eat other fish smaller than them, like many fish. And they can flop across the marsh to travel to very close neighboring ponds.

Fish terror is big in the U.S. Ponds are drained, lakes poisoned with rotenone.

The most amusing case was one a few years ago at Lake Davis in California. Officials were terror struck by the presence of the great northern pike, always described in news stories as "voracious," a creature that would eat every other fish in the league, swim downstream and commence to eating every other fish smaller than it in California, if not stopped.

When I was a kid in Pennsy, we regularly went on fishing trips through the northeast. The pike was considered a fine game fish and it was in many lakes. No one ever had panic attacks over it; it was actually a tourist attraction. Fishermen actually -wanted- to go to lakes with reps for big pike and muskellunge.

Anyway, at Lake Davis the pike was also probably introduced by fishermen. And so the lake was sterilized with rotenone over the protests of the locals who used it for their livelihood -- tourism
and drinking water.

When the lake was no longer radioactive with rotenone a year later, fish were reintroduced by state authorities. And somehow, the verdammte northern pike was also put or got back in.

Now, there are cyclic stories in the news about the alleged depradations of the great northern pike.

Wait, what's this behind me?

A touch of evil. I think snakehead terror touches a deep fear, one caused by an episode of "Outer Limits" many, many years ago. In this particular episode, a scientific explorer had discovered a community of giant, crawling something-or-others with big teeth at the bottom of a dammed-up lake in a south American country. The country was run by a strutting dictator and he wanted to use the monsters as a news attraction. So one was gaffed and put in the freezer. But it was not dead and began to call out to its brothers who crawled out of the bottom of the lake to rescue it.

The monsters couldn't move fast, slower than a Tonka truck toy actually, but they had big teeth and looked fierce, so even the army was paralyzed with fear and many were killed. The town was burned down and, just for good measure, the monsters broke the dam and flooded most of the country, too.

Since then, no one has been willing to cut fish with noticeable teeth any slack.

Maybe it's a primal fear of gradually slipping back into the swamp?

guys obesity is actually going to be a public health crisis

Yeah, but it was such a hilarious opening post surely we can be forgiven for mocking massed heart failure.

"hilarious"

oh man this pediatric obesity lecture is o_O

we're doomed

or at least our children our

ARE

HFCS

guys obesity is actually going to be a public health crisis

yeah :-/

dear parents of ilx,

do not give your children soda. ever.

But lard-flavored Crisco soda is supposed to be good for growing bodies!

we used to think fruit juice was good for growing bodies, too, but basically it isn't

The highlight (possibly lowlight) from our obesity lectures was this: http://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/dnpa/obesity/trend/maps/index.htm

Stupid Colorado thinks it's so good.

we used to think fruit juice was good for growing bodies, too, but basically it isn't

well then what is debbie downer

wow, tenn., alabama and miss. the obesity belt

bread lobby to thread

jesus christ that fatty gif from the cdc is scary

obesity's gonna getcha!

when i grow up and have kids we're going to have a full service soda machine in the house, and one of those rotating hot dog cookers

so is it unethical now to be into fat chixx

Yeah fruit juice - even (especially?) the fresh-squeezed stuff you get at juice stands - is loaded with Kj because you're basically eating 5 oranges at a time.

Never mind the processed kind with the shittons of sugar also in it.

My cousin was fed on sugared apple juice in his bottle as a toddler. His teeth went black and fell out when he was about 4.

Obviously people driving every damn where and being to scared to let their kids outside to play is adding to this as well as the shit food. Its depressing.

to=too, wtf is with me today.

so is it unethical now to be into fat chixx

― thereminimum chips (electricsound), Wednesday, 3 December 2008 00:28 (8 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

Not if you keep calling them a "fat whore" until they cry.

http://brainblogger.com/2009/02/05/is-obesity-contagious/

The worldwide prevalence of obesity has increased dramatically in the last several decades. Obesity is a significant public health problem in most developed countries and carries with it substantial morbidity and mortality. The most commonly implicated causes of obesity are well known: poor diet, lack of physical activity, and genetic predisposition. There are also other factors that contribute to obesity, including environment, cultural customs, seasonal changes, stress, and medication-related weight gain. However, a new theory provides another possible cause for obesity in some people: infectious disease.

ObesityThe term “infectobesity” was coined several years ago by researchers who discovered a link between a common human viral pathogen and obesity. Adenovirus-36 (Ad-36) is a highly contagious virus that normally causes upper respiratory tract infections. There are approximately 50 members of the adenovirus family, and they cause up to 5% of respiratory tract infections each year, ranging from the common cold to severe pneumonia. Some strains can also cause eye infections. Ad-36 has not been linked to any specific disease to date.

Early research found that 30% of obese people were infected with Ad-36, while only 11% of non-obese people were infected. New research finds that Ad-36 has a direct effect on human fat stem cells. The virus infects the fatty tissue and increases replication, differentiation, and accumulation of fat cells. Ultimately, this leads to larger fat cells, and more of them. The virus also increases lipid sensitivity and decreases leptin secretion of the new fat cells. However, the weight gain was not permanent in every case, lasting only long enough for the infected person to build up resistance to the virus.

Several other viruses have shown similar effects in animals: canine distemper virus, Rous-associated virus type 7, Borna disease virus, scrapie agents, and SMAM-1, an avian adenovirus from India. Also, 2 other human adenoviruses (Ad-5 and Ad-37) have induced weight gain in animal models, but have not had the same effect in humans. Most of the studies have taken place in animal models, and human data is limited, but some studies of rodents and non-human primates can be extrapolated to human models.

The increase in obesity cannot be entirely explained by changes in diet, physical activity, television watching, and food advertisement. The rapid spread of obesity is analogous to the spread of an infectious disease, and the viral etiology of obesity is appealing as an explanation to the public health crisis. If we better understand the origin of fat cell differentiation, growth, and accumulation, we can better treat obesity and its constellation of complications.

This virus is clearly not the only explanation for obesity, and researchers and clinicians only offer the theory as one possible contributing factor. It is still important to eat healthy, exercise often, and manage stress to stay healthy and decrease the spread of all infectious diseases, whether or not they cause obesity.

its no excuse latebloomer

zing!

really though, the idea that a virus could be affecting anything like this is just creepy and disturbing to me

secretly hoping there's a virus for procrastination too

on day all of our actions will have been caused by diseases -- thank fuck, tired of taking responsibility for things

classic passaggtino post there.

I don't get the eyerolling on this board at public officials who warn of obesity epidemics. It's seriously an enormous (no pun intended) issue, especially among children, and not just in the US but increasingly in Europe as well, that must be confronted. A lot of it I believe is a lack of education, so the more we get word out, advertise nutrition, etc the better IMO

I mean I understand the original post was mocking the word "panic" and US media hype telling us all the things we should be scared of. Poor choice of words/tone in the article yes, but I agree with the sentiment.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/news/e3i653c072dd63127c89086fcc408eef731

Style Network has greenlighted a docuseries about obesity with the attention-getting title “Too Fat for 15: Fighting Back.”

The series revolves around four extremely overweight teens and one preteen whose parents bring them to Wellspring Academy, a weight-loss boarding school in North Caro¬lina.

The series, produced by Daisybeck Prods. in association with Passion Distribution, is inspired by a documentary that aired on the network last year about an overweight British teen who went to Wellspring.

“ ‘Too Fat for 15: Fighting Back’ captures the epic struggle of a courageous group of obese teens trying to lose weight,” Style Network president Salaam Coleman Smith said. “Their life-changing mental and physical trans¬formation is must-see tele¬vision that puts a real face on the obesity epidemic threatening our young people.”

“Too Fat” will premiere in August.

Weight-issue reality shows are a programming trend among cable networks. Style sister network E! recently picked up “What’s Eating You?” a documentary series about extreme eating dis¬orders, and Oprah Winfrey’s OWN ordered “Inside Rehab,” a series that follows patients at an eating-disorder treatment facility.

"Too Fat for Fifteen" was going to be Weird Al's parody on Taylor Swift iirc