BAD AIR IS CAUSING OBESITY
By Richard E Sall MD
There is an epidemic of obesity world wide that is attributable to overeating and lack of exercise. I have no quarrel with that. But why are people performing in this way?
My theory is that people are getting fat because it is a biological preservation response to environmental pollution.
Exposure to environmental toxins appears to be the root cause of the epidemic of obesity we are witnessing worldwide. It is the body’s attempt to reduce the impact of these poisons on our physiological processes by becoming larger.
Ramazzini, the father of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, determined in 1700 that the poison is in the dose. Meaning—any substance can be a toxin to the body if the dose is large enough. A dose refers to the amount of concentration in the body. The dose is dependent on body size. If the body size is increased the dose is diminished by dilution because the concentration of a substance is dependent on the size of the medium it is in. This gives the body time to detoxify the substance by the liver and kidneys. With toxins that cannot be removed like lead and mercury, the dilution effect may be the last protective barrier for the body to maintain homeostasis.
Take 2 dogs of different size who decide to eat Snail Bait, a strychnine type of poison. One dog is a small Lab and the other is a large Great Dane. Eating the same amount, the larger dog has a greater chance for survival because the poison is diluted by a larger body and detoxified. On the same track, if people are constantly bombarded by toxins in the atmosphere daily, wouldn’t a protective mechanism gradually occur, such as becoming larger?
TOP 25 FATTEST CITIES:
1. Chicago
2. Las Vegas
3. Los Angeles
4. Dallas
5. Houston
6. Memphis, Tenn.
7. Long Beach, Calif.
8. El Paso, Texas
9. Kansas City, Mo.
10. Mesa, Ariz.
11. Indianapolis
12. San Antonio
13. Fort Worth, Texas
14. Miami
15. Detroit
16. Columbus, Ohio
17. Oklahoma City
18. Cleveland
19. Wichita, Kan.
20. Charlotte, N.C.
21. San Diego
22. Fresno, Calif.
23. Philadelphia
24. San Jose, Calif.
25. New York
TOP 25 FITTEST CITIES:
1. Baltimore
2. Honolulu
3. Virginia Beach, Va.
4. Tucson, Ariz.
5. Milwaukee
6. Colorado Springs, Colo.
7. San Francisco
8. Seattle
9. Louisville-Jefferson, Ky.
10. Boston
11. Sacramento, Calif.
12. Nashville-Davidson, Tenn.
13. Albuquerque
14. Tulsa, Okla.
15. Phoenix
16. Atlanta
17. Portland, Ore.
18. Washington
19. Oakland, Calif.
20. Denver
21. Minneapolis
22. Arlington, Texas
23. Austin, Texas
24. Jacksonville, Fla.
25. Omaha, Neb.
U.S. METROPOLITAN AREAS MOST POLLUTED BY YEAR-ROUND PARTICLES
1. Los Angeles-Long Beach-Riverside, California
2. Bakersfield, California
3. Pittsburgh-New Castle, Pennsylvania
4. Visalia-Porterville, California
5. Fresno-Madera, California
6. Detroit-Warren-Flint, Michigan
7. Hanford-Corcoran, California
8. Cleveland-Akron-Elyria, Ohio
9. Birmingham-Hoover-Cullman, Alabama
9. Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Gainesville, Georgia -Alabama
11. Chicago-Naperville-Michigan City, Illinois –Indiana -Wisconsin
12. Weirton-Steubenville, West Virginia -Ohio
13. York-Hanover-Gettysburg, Pennsylvania
13. St. Louis-St. Charles-Farmington, Missouri –Illinois
13. Cincinnati -Middletown -Wilmington, Ohio - Kentucky -Indiana
16. New York-Newark-Bridgeport, N.Y.-N.J.-Conn.
16. Lancaster, Pa.
18. Merced, Calif.
18. Canton-Massillon, Ohio
20. Charleston, W.Va.
21. Washington-Baltimore-Northern Virginia, D.C.-Md.-Va.-W.Va.
22. Reading, Pa.
22. Hagerstown-Martinsburg, Md.-W.Va.
24. Indianapolis-Anderson-Columbus, Ind.
25. Louisville-Elizabethtown-Scottsburg, Ky.-Ind.
US CITIES WITH THE CLEANEST AIR
- Santa Fe, New Mexico
- Honolulu, Hawaii
- Cheyenne, Wyoming
- Great Falls, Montana
- Farmington, New Mexico
THE LEAST SMOGGY METROPOLITAN AREAS
- Ames, Iowa
- Bellingham, Washington
- Brownsville, Texas
- Colorado Springs, Colorado
- Duluth, Minnesota
A REPORT FROM THE AMERICAN LUNG ASSOCIATION STATES THAT
• 55 per cent of Americans live in areas with unhealthy levels of ozone or particle pollution.
• 47 per cent of Americans live in areas with unhealthy levels of ozone.
• 28 per cent of Americans live in areas with unhealthy short-term levels of particle pollution.
• 23 per cent of Americans live in areas with unhealthy year-round levels of particle pollution.
• 16 per cent of Americans live in areas where there are unhealthy levels of ozone and short-term and year-round particle pollution.
ASIA
According to studies by the World Health Organization, five of the seven cities with the worst air pollution are in Asia:
- Beijing
- Calcutta
- Jakarta
- New Delhi
- Shenyang
Two of the cities with the best air quality are also in Asia:
- Tokyo
- Singapore
In India, home to half of all undernourished people in the world, 55% of women between 20 and 69 years old are overweight, according to a recent study. A survey released by China's Ministry of Health found that the number of obese Chinese had doubled to 60 million between 1992 and 2002, while some 200 million are at least overweight.
Altogether, the International Obesity Task Force that studies the spread of the epidemic estimates that 1.7 billion people—one out of every five worldwide—are overweight or obese.
COUNTRIES WHERE 25% OF CHILDREN ARE OBESE
- Britain
- Chile
- China
- France
- Germany
- Hungary
- Hong Kong
- Japan
- Mexico
- Morocco
- Peru
- Singapore
- USA
- Zambia
What this information shows is that there is an association between Obesity and Environmental Pollution. If the root cause of this epidemic of Obesity is Environmental Pollution—we will not be successful in controlling Obesity unless Environmental Pollution is controlled and reduced.
But what about the people who aren’t overweight in the polluted cities? Are they as healthy as we have been led to believe? Maybe not.
Maybe Osama Bin Ladin has the right idea. Live in a cave in a remote village away from pollution and you can keep your weight down.
* Data for this article was obtained from The American Lung Association, World Health Organization, International Obesity Task Force, WebMD, The Associated Press, The Earth Policy Institute, The International Herald Tribune, and PBS.
