Is air conditioning making us fat?
 

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/Diet/st...C-RSSFeeds0312

I was thinking of putting this in the paranoia section, but it just might make sense. The rise in obesity occurred right about the time that AC became more widespread. What effect does heat have on your metabolism? Are you less likely to eat large meals when it is 90+ F(37+ C)? And do you burn off more calories trying to keep cool on a hot day, or in a building without AC? And does your body purposely store fat when it's cold out and lose it when it is hot? Are there more overweight people in cold climates than warm ones?


Now there are many other factors that matter more (diet & exercise) are the big ones. And the rise of the TV, computers, Pro Football (watching TV for hours), cars, fast food, medications, cubicles, and a bunch of other things became mainstream during the past 40 years as well. But I just thought of this out of the blue. I was a few months behind the researchers that came up with the idea first.

it's more likely that suger is the biggest cause of our obesity epidemic. i'm pretty sure i couldn't find the article again, but i read something about a week ago about how the rise of obesity in our country has pretty much matched the increase in suger consumption. we eat about 47% more suger today than we did 20 or 50 (can't remember which) years ago (and shockingly enough, diabetes rates have gone up just about the same amount). that's not to say that there aren't other factors involved as well, but suger is probably the #1 cause.

http://health.msn.com/reports/obesit....aspx?GT1=8307

I saw this the other day and thought it was interesting. It appears as though obesity in the US is not linked to climate. Michigan and Texas, which have different climates, are both among the most obese states.

WebMD had a similar article
http://www.webmd.com/content/article/124/115592.htm
But they listed 10 reasons:
The sleep one I'll buy, because that is scientifically proven... the rest of them are just excuses... How about what's making us fat is what we are putting in our mouths...

I don't agree at all with the sleep one. In college, I would get 3-5 hours of sleep a night. I didn't gain weight. I also didn't eat anything after 8pm. I also don't agree with the hispanic part. At least in my life, the hispanics I've seen are not overweight. If I'm walking through a mall, they account for a very small percent.

And I thought about the differences in the number of overweight people I found in Arizona and Michigan. Maybe the overweight people would move away from the extreme heat for a climate that is better for them.

High fucrose corn syrup is a huge problem as well as the food fried in unhealthy grease.

And it could be that we are just eating more.

Sooooo much food is processed. Refined sugar, high fructose corn syrup, hydronated oils, (espscially for frying fast foods and preserving processed foods)bleached flour, reduction of fiber.

And we eat more convenience foods which are all processed. As a result, we eat less fruits and veggies. We need it quick and now, but we have no personal responsibility to plan ahead so we can eat the right things. That said, it is more expenswive to eat well and less to eat processed, which is probably why so many poor people seem to be overweight compared with the other end of the economic spectrum. Of course, you usually put your money into what is important to you!

I get kidded all the time about my "snack" and the fact that I pack different foods when I travel. But I make sure i get the right nutrients and don't snack on crap, whihch is soooo easy to do. If I'm full on the right stuff the bad stuff isn't as appealing.

Yep. I'd guess this is about 80% of it, with the other 20% being air conditioning, fat spouses, etc.

The funny thing in that list above is that "less smoking" is listed as a cause for obesity. I'm going to be very sad the day a smoker tells me they can't quit because they'll be fat.

I think the air conditioning thing is a little bit far-fetched. The reason why we are fat is because people eat out more often than they ever have these days. When we eat out, the portion sizes are much larger than what we should be eating. Haven't you ever noticed at a sit-down restaurant they give you enough food for 2 or 3 people?
You have to also consider that we are not as active as we should be. People drive everywhere. Our entertainment consists of television, the internet, and other things that don't allow any form of exercise.
To further disprove your point, I have never lived in a house with air conditioning and I could stand to lose a few pounds.

hmmmmmmmm
i'm actually with you there on the air conditioning concept. At least as a contributor to obesity.

The first thing that popped into my mind was the image of a plant in a growth chamber - it grows like crazy because it is under "ideal" conditions, but this growth isn't always best for the plant. You take a full-grown plant out of a growth chamber, and put it in the ground, 5/10 times it's going to die back, if not die completely, because it hasn't been exposed to real weather during its formative stage.

Air conditioning puts us in an environment where we're comfortable all the time. Our bodies aren't as used to adapting to temperature fluctuations, so we view 90 degree temperatures as impossibly hot, whereas really, our bodies are perfectly capable of dealing easily with 90 degree weather - if properly hydrated.

Air conditioning takes us away from our body's connection with the changing climates of the season, it makes our internal clocks out of whack by placing us in a continual springtime.

Obesity - sure. If nothing more, air conditioning makes a sit-on-your-bum-all-day office environment a less stifling place to spend your days. Think of how hot, sticky, and generally gross an office would be without air conditioning or proper ventilation. You can't tell me that most people would choose to work in an enclosed office in 90 degree weather/ 90% humidity without air conditioning. It'd be better than roofing, but I still wouldn't want to do it.

You're kidding, right? I've heard that line loads of times. Two women on the board have said it to me, in fact.

When people quit smoking, they tend to gain weight because they need something to do with their hands, or something in their mouths (shut up ya pervs) so theyoften turn to food...

Maybe. But consider...A climate controlled environment makes it easier for us to sit on our asses and watch TV, play on the computer, and a host of other activities that don't require much effort.

I'm old enough to remember going outside to play in the summer. For one thing, we had no Nintendo, but more importantly, it was cooler than sitting in a overly warm house. More neighbors actually knew each other, because they were also outside. I don't see a lot of that today. Except for yard work, on the weekends, the newer housing developments seem virtually deserted. That's because everyone's in thier houses.

So, while air conditioning may, or may not, be a direct cause of obesity, I do feel that it plays a significant, albeit indirect role.

In the UK, we do not generally have AC.

In the UK we have nearly as much obesity as the US.

Think about it - in the 50's loads of new things were invented or became more widespread, inclding TV, automatic transmissions, space launches, etc.

Did the increasing number of rockets being launched cause the obesity epidemic? Obviously not.

The link is that incomes rose in real terms, whilst the price of food fell. Sedentary pasttimes overtook active ones, and people stopped moving about so much, ate more food and grew arses that could provide shelter to a family of four.

We could probably argue all day that air conditioning, preprocessed foods, television and many other things contribute to obesity. In the end it's all about laziness. I think those things just give us more excuses to whine when we're "lacking".

The arguement for poor folk that junk food is cheaper than healthy food is stupidity. A carton of eggs is way cheaper than a bag of chips. A head of lettuce and a bag of carrots will a salad for the whole family for less money than a Hungry-Man TV dinner would. It takes some intelligence and a lack of laziness to make it work but it's possible.

The problem is availability, not cost. In many poor neighborhoods in NYC, they are completely lacking in any sort of local grocery store beyond the corner store, which might sell a couple of apples. Due to limited transportation, getting to a real supermarket or a market where produce is sold and then carting those things home is just not practical. The same is true for much of the inner city in the United States, so they fall back on junk food. The fact is, major grocers aren't interested in opening stores in the inner city, and so the people who live there suffer. The New York Times coveres issues in food economics and community food security such as this on a fairly regular basis.

if i go over to miejers (think walmart but without the evil), i can buy 5x more crap food than healthy food for the same price. not only that, a bag of chips is going to have a whole lot more energy in it than a carton of eggs. i can get a hungry man dinner for something like $3.29. a bag of prepared mixed greens for salad would cost me that much or very close. you can feed a family of 4 on mcdonalds for $12 (dollar menu, sandwich, small fries, drink for each person). if you're careful about your food choices, i'm sure you can get healthy food for close to the same about as crap food, but i think you would have to find eating healthy to be really worth the diligence.

im gonna say its a mix of things. mostly processed foods that are easy to make and real unhealthy. indoor entertainment. TV computers and all that fancy new stuff. back in the day when people were thinner they basicly had no choice but to go out and move around for entertainment. Even all the little details of life are lazy now. washing dishes you just put them in the dishwasher and turn it on instead of scrubbing. doing laundry is the same. instead of taking laudnry to get washed or doing it by hand its all automatic. mowing the lawn you walk behind a self propelled lawn mower instead of pushing one thats all handpower even to turn the blades. or evne worse riding on a lawn mower where you just sit on your butt. Microwaved meals take next to no effort to make to feed a family but 50 years ago cooking a meal was at least a hour of work. and that food wasnt loaded with preservitives and other unhealthy fatty stuff. Even driving was more work with the lack of power steering and automatic transmissions and power windows. Now most jobs even are lazy. sitting at a computer or whatever it is you do is most likely alot easier now then it was 50 years ago. even manual labor type jobs such as construction work. you just dont see professioals swing a hammer anymore. they are using nail guns power saws power drills power everything.

Air conditioning is the least of the troubles. Every day our world gets more and more lazy. While everyone keeps getting fatter. people pay $50 a month to go to the gym to work out when they could of saved that money and worked out by doing things the old way. go buy a fancy old fashion push mower save that money on gas for your normal mower and save the time you spend on a tredmill. scrub your dishes by hand for a light upper body workout.

Plaid13, I think you are on to something here. People get a lot less exercise in their daily lives and eat a lot more junk food. It seems that many more people have desk jobs now and even blue collar jobs are becomming very automated. I don't think air conditioning has a lot to do with it other than it may keep people sitting in their comfortable houses and offices rather than going out and doing something.

I also think social acceptance of being overweight is contributing to the lack of desire for some to do something about their weight. It seems like it shouldn't be too difficult to figure out a way to eat fewer calories than you burn. When half the people around you are overweight as well you don't feel so out of place anymore.

If AC or cooler climate caused obesity, then people in Scandinavian countries, Finland, Norway, Sweden, Iceland, would also all be fat. Don't forget the Canadians, Nova Scotians, New Foundlands, and Greenlanders, they too would also be obese if it was due to climate.

Now let me be the first to say something that should have been in post #2.

Correlation Does Not Imply Causation

Air conditioning makes us comfortable. Too much sugar and fast food makes us fat. That and over processed foods.

I can definitely see your point in that.

processed foods
 

I agree about the processed foods.. I think alot of it began with microwaves.

I can see this being an issue. It's still hard for me to comprehend. IN our town, there are more fat people than fit and it doesn't take ANYTHING for me to walk or ride my bicycle to the local grocery store. A ride on the bus is only $1.50 round trip even with kids.
In the end though it's still laziness in most cases. A can of green beans and a can of tuna is not any more than a can of ravioli. Kwik Trip sells fresh fruit. There are community gardens in many areas but they require that the people come help weed and pick the produce that they get. If you REALLY want to eat better you can but it takes work. People today do not like ANYTHING that makes them uncomfortable emotionally or physically. We're a generation of pansies.

Wow... I didn't know that Nova Scotia and Newfoundland had succeeded from Canada... :D


It's the food (high fructose corn syrup, etc. as menitoned above) as well as the lack of activity (everyone drives). Portion sizes combined with processed foods.

ahem - seceded :) but maybe they are successful canadians :) :icare:

The only way I can see A/C making people fat is...

Jason: Hey Alex, let go see what's up on Main Street

Alex: Uhhh Fuck that it's too hot outside

Jason: What about throwing the frisbee at the park

Alex: Uhh Fuck that it's too hot outside

Jason: 'Bout a movie, I heard they got a special on popcorn

Alex: Okay

Okay the heat might make you burn more calories than the cold, but not really enough to make any difference, the really problem here is A/C makes people to damn lazy.

I think it's silly to try to attribute us getting fat to just one thing. There are so many factors at play that it's pretty much impossible to isolate one main cause. One important thing I learned in my stats classes is that correlation does not imply causation.

Damn... all this sitting around on my ass in the heat is making me soft.

Interesting, all the Newfewies never spoke of themselves as Candians and same with those from Nova Scotia.

But it is pretty obvious that something is causing it. And using the scientific method, you eliminate things that can't be the cause. I wasn't trying to imply that air conditioning was the sole cause, but could it play a role in the bigger problem? I would defiantly agree that being lazy and the easy lifestyle contributes to weight gain much more than A/C.

Then again, your body uses energy to heat the body in the very cold weather as well.

I really dont think I support this idea... I live in Alaska you see, and its decently cold a good portion of the time.. I play computer games, watch movie's ect... I do these things atleast 30-45% of my time during a day, besides work, among other things... I cant say that any of my cusins, or I are chained by overlarge bands of fat... I weigh about 137 Ibs which as I understand it to be perfectly healthy weight for a 18-20 year old male.
I would say about 15% of the over all amount of people I see per day have weight problems, and I only mean even that much on days when I see alot of people, almost every I every notice or see at work, outside, at the store are all relativly usualy in good shape besides that odd 20% of people who are just odd people who stick out simply because they are not atleast in some way physicaly fit. Though certainly my opinion is biased because it wouldnt be at all odd if as a male at my age I refined the things I noticed about people, expecialy myself being fit and athletic.... Yes athletic despite much time spent on the computer :p.

I'm going to become more Hispanic as I get older?

One more vote for processed foods, sugar, and fast food. You can live in the comfort of ac and be in great shape. Unless you are blessed with great genetics, fat is mostly a by product of poor diet and lack of excercise.

The more I think about it, it has to be a combination for the typical person. Sort of a cycle. I'm not talking about the less fortunate that can only afford crappy food.

You want a better lifestyle (perhaps to afford AC?) so you both (married couples) go to work. You're so busy working that you don't have time to prepare decent food. Yuo grab a quick bite at McD's or some other fast food place for lunch. Since yo're busy, you didn't have time to pack a decent snack or some fruit other than an apple that has to be cut up or something. Then, you come home all timerd from work and the commute. You're starving so you open a box or pop dinner in the microwave.

After all that, you plop your butt on the couch in your AC controlled house and watch TV instead of working out because you're too tired and stressed out from working and commuting.

So, too much work, too much stress, no time to eat right or work out (which would help the stress levels) and the cycle repeats itself! What a circle.