Michelle Obama has put child obesity at the top of the agenda in the US with her speech at a meeting of state governors; “Nearly one in three of our children in this country is overweight or obese. One in three kids today will eventually develop diabetes – and in the African-American and Hispanic communities [...]
Hooray for the UK. Not content with being just another country with steadily rising obesity one of us has only gone ahead and seized the title of the World’s Heaviest Man. Weighing in at 70 stone Paul Mason is big story in every sense. Apart from the usual outrage and outpourings of pity and disgust, [...]
Here in Fatville we have very few pleasant memories of PE lessons at school. Tripping over hockey sticks in an arctic mud-laden field wearing our less-than-flattering PE knickers did not overly enamor us of sports. Thank god some boffins at the University of Essex have finally proven that letting kids have FUN is the key to fighting [...]
It was a fixture of weekday nights on Sky One for years – 2 episodes of the Simpsons, each preceded by a short advertisement for Domino’s Pizza. The product and show were, seemingly, a perfect match. After all, the protagonist of the show – Homer – is renowned for his love of all things indulgent. [...]
According to a recent survey by the British Heart Foundation 30% of children said they can’t be bothered to exercise. Also, in findings that echo our own study, 20% of children asked said exercise is a chore and is only needed by people who were overweight. So with only one in eight of the nation’s yoof getting the right amount of exercise and the [...]
Ruddy hell! We thought Swine Flu was the only thing we had to worry about catching this Christmas, now a new book called ‘Connected’ suggests we can ‘catch’ obesity too! Harvard brainiacs Christakis and Fowler mapped the social networks of 12,067 people and found that overweight people are more likely to be friends with other [...]
Here in Fatville we can’t stop watching the Biggest Loser USA, and we aren’t the only ones. Syndicated around the world with spin off computer, games, DVDs and most recently Biggest Loser weight loss camps, this show like our waist lines keeps on growing. Our study we found that people prefer to watch cookery shows [...]
Marketing has reported that health campaigners have criticized Business4life members (such as Mars, Cadbury and Coca-cola) for failing to adopt the change4life agenda. It is easy to criticize brands, businesses and advertisers who are often at the heart of the blame storm when obesity is discussed. Fatville hopefully demonstrates that Obesity is a multifaceted issue [...]
If you thought just the lady on the far right was obese, you’d be wrong. In fact the last four ladies on the right are in fact obese. Each has a BMI of 30 and over. Shocked? You’re not alone. Over 90% of people in our Fatville study struggled to identify an obese body. Even stranger is [...]
According to a study reported in The Guardian, amongst other evils, the TV is making us fat The mesmeric and seductive power of the ol’ tellybox is well documented. Even in our survey, 38% of people said they preferred watching cookery shows to actually cooking. If we’re ever going to find our way out of [...]