is being obese is caused by genetics why werent people obese in the last generation?

Answer 1

Some human groups and their metabolism has been selected to act like carnivore metabolisms. A carnivore makes a large kill infrequently. and it is advantageous to be able to eat an enormous meal, digest it and store most of it as body fat, to be used in the lean times when hnting is poor. This strategy protects against starvation and death. Hunting people are especially prone to having such a metabolism, (for example hunter gatherer tribes, inuit, (a.k.a. Eskimos,). All humans seem to have thsi hoarding ability to some extent. Their rates of heart disease and type 2 diabetes is rising at epidemic rates. In past times food was not always so plentiful, nor consistant. It is now.
They tended to be underweight, often malnourished and they did a lot more exercise than we do today. We tend to overeat and store enrgy as fat but the lean times no longer come, so the pounds add up until we become obese and some of us become morbidly obese. Our energy expenditure has dropped drastically over the last 80 years and fat is thus used at a slower rate, so it piles up. Suoersized portions at restaurants does not help, nor does the fairly common restaurant practice of adding a little more fat or oil into the dishes in order to have custormers leave feeling full. (no one wants to leave a restaurant and become hungry one hour later.)
Obesity is becoming a World-wide epidemic. A good percentage of the developed World is overweight, and the aged of obede people is getting lower each decade. This is not a matter of morality nor wilfull sloth. It is a physiological disease that is spreading at a disturbing rate. Recently doctors and other medical personnel are noticing that people in the third word are also starting to become overweight and are developing the diseases of obesity. Heart problems, athritis, atherosclorosis, late onset diabetes, etc. etc. Scientists are working very hard to understand the biochemistry of appetite. Some undiscovered physiological mechanisms have recently been discovered, and new drugs will be quickly be introduced into medicine and the market place.
Doc. Dan.

Answer 2

I believe in a predisposition, or gene that can make people fat. I also believe that the differences in socially acceptable behaviours along with technology are what have exaggerated the problem in so many people now and not back a couple of generations.

We all know what helps us maintain a healthy body wieght, but in this world as almost everyone says.... it is TOO EASY to just let it go. TOO HARD to stop pushing buttons and pass drive thru's.

Socially acceptable behavior ( the drive thru, tim hortons, mcd's, wendy's, tv, cpu's, video games, elevators, cars, technology in general .. alll the things people have already listed Im sure) for people WITHOUT a predisposition to gaining weight has become very damaging for those WITH an 'obese' gene.

Therefore, anyone with a predisposition ... is living in temptation 24/7. ANYthing you want, readily available at any time of day. And if you wanted, you could go weeks in a row where the only excercise you do is walk 10 steps to the door and ten back in to set down the takeout you had delivered.

(maybe a walk to the washroom here and there :P)

Answer 3

Obesity can be caused by genetics. However the bulk of people who are obese are that way because they have poor eating habits. Because of hectic work schedules and such, more and more people are eating out or having processed foods instead of preparing their own meals. Processed foods have an enormous of fat and sugar in them.

Answer 4

Genetics doesn't make you fat, it makes you prone to obesity. So if in the last century you didn't get enough to eat, or eat more than your daily amount and had more excercise (no cars/fast public transport etc) then you would not put on weight. As for the last generation, well, I come from a long line of robust women, we're proud of ourselves :)

Answer 5

Your statement is not entirely correct. In biology and human physiology, it is a widely accepted fact that genetics determine the RANGE of certain features such as height, body weight, and skin color. It is your environment in which you were born, raised, and are living now in that determines where in that range do you exactly fall.

If your body weight was determine by your genes, then as soon as you were born, that would be your weight and for your entire life you body weight would NOT change because genetics stay constant throughout your life. Your genes themselves do not change (ignoring mutations of course).

This is the reason that some people just cannot absolutely gain weight and some people cannot loose weight. So if you are overweight but want to be healthier then simply exercise and convert all of that fat into muscle. MUCH easier said than done.

The reason people are obese today and were not so in the previous generation are several. Today (especially in the developed world such as Western Europe and North America and USA specifically) healthcare is much much better than it was for fewer generations. Food quality AND the amount of food available is much better. And most important of all, out lifestyles have become very sedentary.

We do not get any exercise at all. In the olden days, people did have stakes and potatoes everyday for dinner but they were worked off when they worked in the fields. Today, people eat the same way but not even a fraction is worked off. People sit in their cars. People sit infront of the TVs. People sit infront of their computers all day long.

Human bodies were not designed for this.

Americans in specific have become sooooooooo lazy that it just boggles my mind. People will go through drive-thru three times to get their order right than to get off their lazy as*es, come in to the store and make sure their order is correct. We have drive-thru ATMs. We have drive-thru weddings. People will drive around for half an hour trying to find a parking spot close-by rather than parking further away and walking for five minutes. We have escalators. We have elevators. Nowadays at the airports, you don't even have to walk. You can just stand on the strip and it will take you there. There are shuttle rides from the dorm to the university even though they are right next to each other. People are willing to wait trying to get into or trying to get out of the parking lot for half an hour then to park at then next lot which is completely empty.

Now is it clear, why are we so damn fat?

Answer 6

Obesity is an American condition, and a relatively recent only. We just eat too much,,,,,,everything is supersized. You do not see fat people in Italy, or anywhere in Europe like you see them here. (I travel -- a lot.....) Their children play, they do not sit in front of computers all day. Between lack of exercise and toooooo much food, this American generation is a generation that will probably not live as long as their parents

Answer 7

Former President Taft was so fat that he once got stuck in a bathtub.

So yeah there were fatties back then too.