Fat? Blame Mum. Don't Sneeze! You Might Spread the Obesity Lurgy!

Two fablous reports floating about in the British Press this week.

Firstly from the University of the Daily Mail, if you are a working mum, your child is more likely to be fat.  And secondly skinny people watch out because fat is contagious!  Yes all the way from University of Bullshit Science in America it seems that if your brother/sister or partner is fat you might catch the fat lurgy too! 

Who fucking pays for all of this bullshit research!!!!  Why oh why does only the most ridiclous and stupid research on obesity ever get reported in the press?  Why doesn't anyone do any worthwhile research into the subject?

Anyway back to the stories.  So working mums.  First off what about Dad?  Where does he fit into all of this?  Whilst I understand that in the animal kingdom, it tends to be females that feed the young, we humans are wee bit more sophiticated.  Middle class mums are not puking chips and KFC's in to their kids mouths like birds.  So Institute of Child Health in London - if you are going to do a survey do it properly include Dad too.  And this survey seems to be all about money.  If you are too poor you are too stupid to know what a carrot is.  But too rich?  You shouldn't be feeding your kids marks and spencer's ready meals.

Although I don't always agree with every she has to say Zoe Williams at the Guardian has some amusing mullings on the subject too.

Now I always thought Havard was one of those posh American universities, that captured all the smart people in America.  That could be my poor understanding of education abroad, but research saying that obesity is contagious I thought would have come from the University of the sort of west of America, not Havard.  But I guess it goes to show that stupid funding and research goes on, no matter how good the university.

Apparently the more fat people around you the more likely you are to think that it is okay to be obese.  And to quote Professor Nicholas Christakis:

"What appears to be happening is that a person becoming obese most likely causes a change of norms about what counts as an appropriate body size."

Interesting really because aren't people also trying to achieve the mystical size zero?  And if you read the comments of the average person on for example the BBC's have your say or the Daily Mail's comments facility on their articles, you will see that average person is actually quite nasty and vindictive about obese people.  That does not sound like the sort of environment that will allow obesity to become normal.

Hopefully there will be less of these bullshit studies next week.

Or maybe one day someone might even do some meaningful research...

Comments

[Glen Johnson]

I have wondered for years who pays for research like this as well. It just gives the folks another reason to discriminate.

As for Harvard if just includes those that are rich enough to afford the tuition not necessarily the smartest.