Nutrition on the Web Preparation

5 Myths About Obesity

By Deborah Cohen
In the article the author, Deborah Cohen discusses 5 myths about obesity and provides
arguments for why they are not true. The first two myths Cohen discusses is, "if youre
obese, blame your genes !and" if you#re obese, you lac$ self%control" &pg. B%'(. Cohen
argues that in the decades between )*+, and ',,, the number of obese -mericans has
doubled, a number that has .umped too /uic$ly to be due to genetics. In addition, Cohen
states the increase in money spent on eating out to restaurants is more of a factor for the
increase of obese -mericans. Cohen feels -mericans ma$e bad choices in their diet
because they are 0overwhelmed with too much information1 and they are surrounded
with too many temptations &pg B%'(.
The third and fourth myth Cohen discusses is, 0lac$ of access to fresh fruits and
vegetables is responsible for the obesity epidemic !and" the problem is not that we eat too
much, but that we are too sedentary &pg B%'(. Cohen states that only 5 percent of the
population encounter a lac$ of access to fresh fruit and vegetables, a number far too small
to increase obesity among -mericans. Cohen also states there is no decline in physical
activity that would attribute to the growing number of obese -mericans. Cohen believes
that the growing obesity is caused by the increase in calorie inta$e, .un$ food, and larger
portion si2es.
The fifth and final myth that was discussed in the article is, 0we can con/uer obesity
through better education about diet and nutrition1 &pg B%'(. Cohen states that even
though doctors and nurses are well aware and educated on the importance of nutrition but
there is still a large percentage of doctors and nurses that are obese. Cohen thin$s that
education about health will not prevent obesity. Instead, Cohen believes that there should
be more limits and restrictions put on mar$eting towards products that are high in sugar
and fat.
Do you agree with the 5 myths about obesity3 4hy or why not3
4hat do you feel the government can do to decrease the rising number of obese
-mericans3
http566s$s.sirs.com.e2p.pasadena.edu6cgi%bin6hst%article%display3id78C-)+*9%,%
:')';artno7,,,,95<<*5;type7-=T;shfilter7>;$ey7?un$
@',food;title75@',Ayths@',-bout
@',Bbesity;res7C;ren7D;gov7D;ln$7D;ic7D