Increased food energy supply is more than sufficient to explain the US epidemic of obesity
- PMID: 19828708
- DOI: 10.3945/ajcn.2009.28595
Increased food energy supply is more than sufficient to explain the US epidemic of obesity
Abstract
Background: The major drivers of the obesity epidemic are much debated and have considerable policy importance for the population-wide prevention of obesity.
Objective: The objective was to determine the relative contributions of increased energy intake and reduced physical activity to the US obesity epidemic.
Design: We predicted the changes in weight from the changes in estimated energy intakes in US children and adults between the 1970s and 2000s. The increased US food energy supply (adjusted for wastage and assumed to be proportional to energy intake) was apportioned to children and adults and inserted into equations that relate energy intake to body weight derived from doubly labeled water studies. The weight increases predicted from the equations were compared with weight increases measured in representative US surveys over the same period.
Results: For children, the measured weight gain was 4.0 kg, and the predicted weight gain for the increased energy intake was identical at 4.0 kg. For adults, the measured weight gain was 8.6 kg, whereas the predicted weight gain was somewhat higher (10.8 kg).
Conclusions: Increased energy intake appears to be more than sufficient to explain weight gain in the US population. A reversal of the increase in energy intake of approximately 2000 kJ/d (500 kcal/d) for adults and of 1500 kJ/d (350 kcal/d) for children would be needed for a reversal to the mean body weights of the 1970s. Alternatively, large compensatory increases in physical activity (eg, 110-150 min of walking/d), or a combination of both, would achieve the same outcome. Population approaches to reducing obesity should emphasize a reduction in the drivers of increased energy intake.
Comment in
-
Estimating the quantitative relation between food energy intake and changes in body weight.Am J Clin Nutr. 2010 Mar;91(3):816; author reply 817. doi: 10.3945/ajcn.2009.28922. Epub 2010 Jan 13. Am J Clin Nutr. 2010. PMID: 20071643 Free PMC article. No abstract available.
Similar articles
-
The Potential Role of Protein Leverage in the US Obesity Epidemic.Obesity (Silver Spring). 2019 Aug;27(8):1222-1224. doi: 10.1002/oby.22520. Epub 2019 May 16. Obesity (Silver Spring). 2019. PMID: 31095898 Free PMC article.
-
Energy balance and obesity: a UK perspective on the gluttony v. sloth debate.Nutr Res Rev. 2013 Dec;26(2):89-109. doi: 10.1017/S095442241300005X. Epub 2013 Jun 11. Nutr Res Rev. 2013. PMID: 23750809 Review.
-
Identifying the energy gap in the German population using results from representative national health surveys (1985-2002).Public Health Nutr. 2011 Jan;14(1):44-8. doi: 10.1017/S1368980010000686. Epub 2010 Apr 21. Public Health Nutr. 2011. PMID: 20409361
-
Estimating the changes in energy flux that characterize the rise in obesity prevalence.Am J Clin Nutr. 2009 Jun;89(6):1723-8. doi: 10.3945/ajcn.2008.27061. Epub 2009 Apr 15. Am J Clin Nutr. 2009. PMID: 19369382 Free PMC article.
-
The obesity epidemic: both energy intake and physical activity contribute.Med J Aust. 2004 Nov 1;181(9):489-91. doi: 10.5694/j.1326-5377.2004.tb06406.x. Med J Aust. 2004. PMID: 15516193 Review.
Cited by
-
Association between Obesity and Atrial Function in Patients with Non-Valvular Atrial Fibrillation: An Echocardiographic Study.J Clin Med. 2024 May 14;13(10):2895. doi: 10.3390/jcm13102895. J Clin Med. 2024. PMID: 38792436 Free PMC article.
-
Assessing the impact of obesity interventions in the early years: a systematic review of UK-based studies.BMJ Open. 2024 May 13;14(5):e076479. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2023-076479. BMJ Open. 2024. PMID: 38740507 Free PMC article.
-
Health-environment efficiency of diets shows nonlinear trends over 1990-2011.Nat Food. 2024 Feb;5(2):116-124. doi: 10.1038/s43016-024-00924-z. Epub 2024 Feb 8. Nat Food. 2024. PMID: 38332359 Free PMC article.
-
Towards Understanding the Development of Breast Cancer: The Role of RhoJ in the Obesity Microenvironment.Cells. 2024 Jan 17;13(2):174. doi: 10.3390/cells13020174. Cells. 2024. PMID: 38247865 Free PMC article.
-
Oridonin restores hepatic lipid homeostasis in an LXRα-ATGL/EPT1 axis-dependent manner.J Pharm Anal. 2023 Nov;13(11):1281-1295. doi: 10.1016/j.jpha.2023.08.010. Epub 2023 Aug 21. J Pharm Anal. 2023. PMID: 38174118 Free PMC article.
MeSH terms
LinkOut - more resources
Full Text Sources
Medical