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Why are we becoming increasingly overweight?

This question is vastly more complicated than some people give it credit for. Controlling body weight is a highly complex process which relies on careful and tight control of many internal and external factors. Our home, neighbourhood, work and national environments AS WELL AS our personal behaviour and reactions to these environments AS WELL AS our overall genetic makeup are all involved in controlling body weight. Consider the following scenario as an example of how a person could easily become overweight without realising it:

Energy saving environments:

• HOME ENVIRONMENT
  • TV, DVDs, computer games and the internet are used for entertainment RATHER THAN playing sport or going for a walk
  • Paying a gardener or a cleaner (or asking the kids to do it) RATHER THAN doing the physical work ourselves

• NEIGHBOURHOOD ENVIRONMENT
  • Driving kids to school or driving to the shops (due to safety concerns or poor public transport services) RATHER THAN walking some or all of the way

• WORK ENVIRONMENT
  • Working at a computer all day RATHER THAN doing work that involves a lot of moving around or physical labour

Poor diet:

• Too busy or not interested in cooking healthy meals at home and instead relying on regular take away or eating out
• Eating high fat (or high energy density) snacks between meals and/or with drinks after work and/or when bored and/or when upset and/or when stressed
• Ordering or serving large meals and finishing the meal irrespective of level of hunger

Given the above circumstances anyone, irrespective of their genetic make up, would tend to put on weight to the point where their weight was putting their health at risk. A person who was genetically predisposed to becoming overweight would find that they would gain weight more quickly and would find it more difficult to lose.

It appears that the relative contributions of genes vs environment varies according to the BMI.

For example: