Wednesday, September 24, 2014

GLOBAL WARMING OR GLOBAL FATTENING?


A new hypothesis asserts that climate change has resulted in fat people. The sort of climate change it is talking about is that encountered when a person moves from a cold climate location to a warm climate.* According to this notion, people living in cold areas have genes that produce higher metabolic rates, thereby maintaining warm body temperatures and resulting in less obesity. However, humans migrating to warmer climates develop lower metabolic rates to remain cool and, accordingly, hold on to excess fat. If this hypothesis is proven true, it would seem that alleged global warming is causing the current growth in fat people. (Those who migrate for the winter to Florida or Arizona take note.)

But wait--is there global warming? According to a published report, "since the turn of the century, global average temperatures have remained flat despite an unabated rise in greenhouse gas emissions."** Some apparently not willing to acknowledge that global warming may not exist now have developed a hypothesis that excess global heat is being swallowed by oceans and stored as warm water deep under the surface. If deep ocean waters are becoming warmer, then will fish and other sea life become fatter under the climate change hypothesis discussed above? Of course, if fish become fatter, then people eating such fish may become even fatter, allowing for a further hypothesis that global warming does indeed cause obesity.

Speaking of fat, remember England's King Richard III, the Royal whose remains were excavated in 2012 from under a paved parking lot? Before getting his crown, he is said to have a lean diet of bread, barley, ale and water. However, once crowned, it is claimed he ate luxury meals, such as game birds and freshwater fish, downed with wine. His diet analysis was based on two teeth, a rib and an upper leg bone. It is not clear whether richer foods may have made him obese or contributed to his demise in battle. When he was found, he was just skin and bones.***

All of this gives food for thought. If global warming does exist, and if it causes obesity , maybe the solution is to drink more water to cool body temperatures, wash food through one's system and to fill stomach cavities to dampen appetite. And, of course eating less and more wisely might help, too.

(Was the unusually large frog in the photo above affected by global warming?)

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* "Ancient Genes, Modern Meals", Science News,
September 20, 2014, p. 18
** "Two Oceans Implicated In Warming Lull",
Science News, September 20, 2014, p.10
*** "Richard III Ate Like A King",
Science News, September 20, 2014, p.17

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