Can we believe the polls?
And no. I am not talking about people from Poland. Everyone knows they are not to be trusted. I am also not talking about Hillary vs. Barack, as everyone knows those pollsare fabricated. I am talking about the poll on my main page asking whether or not obesity is a problem. It turns out that 2/3rds of the nearly 400 folks who responded think it is not. These results contradict other polls that I cite in the book where about 2/3rds state that obesity is a big problem. How can that be? Well, one obvious answer is that people who find their way to my website are not representative of the general population and therefore their results are highly biased. It would be like asking a bunch of people from Boston who their favorite football team is and then concluding that America’s team is the New England Patriots. This is clearly incorrect as every one knows that America’s team is the Philadelphia Eagles, at least that is my team. So, what is the value of these polls. Well, they are valuable for making statements of those who take the poll, but useless for trying to make out of sample predictions. So, of those who found my site and took the survey, 2/3rds believe that obesity is not a problem. 1/3rd believes it is. For the general population, results are likely to be very different and our survey offers no insight into that question.
One thing that I am hopeful of is that some of these 2/3rds read my book so they are making an informed vote. I wonder what percent of the 2/3rds who said it is not a problem are actually obese? That might make for an interesting next survey, assuming I could figure out how to do that. For the record, I think obesity is a problem. As discussed in the book, I think obesity is a real problem among our youth that should be addressed via government policy. I also think obesity is bad for those businesses who are not in the business of profiting off of obese consumers. Businesses should (and do) worry about obesity the same way they worry about the high costs of health insurance. I expect they will increasingly take actions to address obesity in the workforce. Some of which will be hotly debated but the truth is thata healthier workforce (unless it comes at significant cost) is good for business. I also think obesity is a problem for government who has to pay the high costs of excess weight. Of course, as discussed in the book, the solutions to these problems are not obvious. Now, is obesity a problem for the obese individual, I also think the answer is yes, just perhaps less so than the problems that would arise if the individual were forced to lose weight. More food for thought.
January 16th, 2008 at 9:56 pm
[…] Here’s another interesting post I read today by The Fattening of America […]
January 17th, 2008 at 12:20 pm
[…] finkelstein placed an interesting blog post on Can we believe the polls?.Here’s a brief overview:I am talking about the poll on my main page asking whether or not obesity is a problem. It turns out that 2/3rds of the nearly 400 folks who responded think it is not. These results contradict other polls that I cite in the book where … […]
January 17th, 2008 at 4:36 pm
So far as I can tell, your book has the physiological causes of obesity completely wrong and the economic causes only half right. It is pretty well known what causes obesity, but unfortunately this knowledge flies directly in the face of the conventional wisdom that people become fat because they are lazy (or have so many labor-saving devices) or because they overeat (which hardly makes sense biologically). People become overweight simply because they eat too much of the wrong thing, i.e. carbohydrates, which serve to destabilize the homeostatic energy balance in the body by increasing the amount of fat (triglyceride) producing insulin. The economiy is complicit in creating an obesity problem only insofar as it has made food high in sugar and refined carbs cheap and readily available.
But by far the those who have perpetuated the myths about obesity I noted above are to blame for the recent obesity epidemic, myths which your book seems to do nothing to dispell but, rather, promote.
And yes, it would be nice if we didn’t have to spend all this money on medical care for those suffering from diseases related to obesity, not to mention the resources pumped into the enormous diet and weight loss industry, 99 percent of which is actually counterproductive.
I believe those is called “opportunity cost,” which we can do without.
January 18th, 2008 at 12:07 am
Two points. One, we don’t have to spend all that many on diseases related to obesity. We choose to. Lots of other countries do not have safety net programs and we could follow suit. Are you recommending that?
Second, I agree that people spend exhorbitant amounts of money on ridiculous diet plans that don’t work, but why do we care about that. My wife spends ridiculous amounts of money on all sorts of things, yet only I seem concerned with that. I’m not sure what your point is there. If it’s their money should they not be allowed to spend it how they please?
Finally, I confess that you may be (half) right about what causes obesity on the food consumption side, but to argue that the physical activity side is irrelevant is wrong. As you note, we are talking about energy balance, where we balance food consumption and physical activity, although increasingly not so well.
But even if you were totally right, I still am unclear about what your point is. Mine is that people may optimally choose the ‘wrong’ diet even if it means gaining weight, if choosing the ‘right’ diet is too much of an effort for them. Get it?
January 19th, 2008 at 2:32 am
I searched for \’Obesity Solution\’ at google and found this your post (\’Can we believe the polls?\’) in search results. Not very relevant result, but still interesting to read.
January 26th, 2008 at 2:37 pm
I searched for \’Obesity Disease\’ at google and found this your post (\’Can we believe the polls?\’) in search results. Not very relevant result, but still interesting to read.
January 27th, 2008 at 6:32 pm
I searched for \’Obesity In America\’ at google and found this your post (\’Can we believe the polls?\’) in search results. Not very relevant result, but still interesting to read.
February 1st, 2008 at 6:33 pm
I searched for \’Obesity Epidemic\’ at google and found this your post (\’Can we believe the polls?\’) in search results. Not very relevant result, but still interesting to read.
February 2nd, 2008 at 2:44 am
I searched for \’Obesity Picture\’ at google and found this your post (\’Can we believe the polls?\’) in search results. Not very relevant result, but still interesting to read.
April 25th, 2008 at 1:38 am
I couldn’t understand some parts of this article Can we believe the polls?, but I guess I just need to check some more resources regarding this, because it sounds interesting.