no kidding.

OMG, noway. RLY?

Who woulda thunk?

Wow Newsweek! I can see why you are America's number one source of hard hitting news coverage! Time for a Pulitzer!!!

My hippie neighbors have two boys who not only ride their bikes to school, they are allowed to play unsupervised in the cul-de-sac by our house.

A mutual acquaintance can't believe that anyone would let "their babies" do those activities in "that neighborhood" (North Beacon Hill).

Of course, her kids are both round little scaredy cats, having been fed a steady diet of tater tots and fear television (America's Most Wanted, Access Hollywood, etc) their entire lives.

Fear television is the best, though!

You're going to be kidnapped, gutted, flayed and turned into a delightful throw rug if you leave the house, I heard that on TV. Stay on that couch, mister.

Killing the farm bill would be a huge step towards reversing the fattening of America... making local food, and more importantly, REAL food, more profitable for farmers to grow more affordable for Americans to buy.

Right now corn and soy is king, and its killing us.

Who didn't know this? Just in case Newsweek is further out of touch with this nation's problems I think someone should let them know that their riveting tidbit about the obesity epidemic being correlated with the American diet also has another component to it, and that is ( shock of all shocks ) economic. Take note of it Newsweek.

Not particularly shocking.

The one point that I find interesting is the drive to end "grocery deserts." I totally agree that the poorer an area, the more underserved it is by traditional grocery stores. But, in addition to this, the quality, quantity, and variety of healthy foods stocked by those traditional grocery stores that do exist is highly dependent on the income of its surrounding residents.

I live in a poor (developing? probably) area with access to two :::scratch that::: now one major grocery store chain. I shop in a more affluent neighborhood because our local, run-of-the-mill grocer is probably one of the worst in the chain. The grocery that we have had a chain-wide sale on artichokes this week. So, I figured that I would just walk a few blocks and pick them up at the local branch. Yeah, not happening. The produce stocker didn't even know what an artichoke was, and the manager simply told me "we can't move things like that." Okay, yes, demand drives business decisions, but did it ever occur to these people that the REASON the produce stocker had no clue what an artichoke was was because he had never had access to them? This at a store which is being remodeled to reflect "the new community."

I mention this because of another interesting observation I've made. In my old 'hood, the more affluent area I still shop in, we had one middle-of-the-road grocery store forever. Then, a bright, shiny, higher-end store moves in (not Whole Foods, much cheaper and less pretentious, but better than average). The new store's produce is significantly higher quality and more varied. Also, their meat selection is soooooo much better (fresh, focus on healthy options, no chitterlings in sight), they have numerous and affordable whole grain and organic store brands, etc. Yeah, needless to say the normal, existing store lost a lot of business, but not just from the affluent yuppies in that neighborhood, from the residents of the nearby housing developments, as well. Since junk tends to be more expensive at the new store than the old one, I'd like to see some actual information on whether access to better items improved diets in this area. Seems like a good case study.

@2: I shall not forgive you for that link. I am completely horrified.

I like the line where they claim that going out to eat is fun, but means parents can't control their child's ingredient intake...

Uh, what? Why the hell can't a parent STILL tell their child what their options are?

Lovechild, do you even bother reading articles before commenting on them?

@10: As am I.

while the american diet may not be the healthiest in terms of actual nutritional content, I'm convinced that lack of exercise is the bigger problem.

I'm surprised what i can get away with eating and drinking when I keep up an exercise regiment.

you go at people on the food angle and they're going to try to find what low cal foods they can eat the most of, so they'll not only not be getting enough energy intake, it'll have little nutritional value.

Tell people to exercise an hour a day instead. Then as long as they're not complete morons about what they eat, they'll have a hard time gaining weight.

If this is true, why is there an obesity epidemic in all sorts of countries that aren't America? Like Greece and Ireland?

I think you can blame that on global warming, Fnarf.

@7 - great point. Redirecting farm subsidies would do wonders.

"Parents should model good eating and eat with their kids as often as possible."

Dan's been saying this all along :P

@6 -- you forgot "harvested for organs."

Although they probably won't be able to use those poor kidneys, liver & pancreas...

@20: That's because having gout is manly.

In a recent statement the University of No Duh issued a statement that said that rain is wet.

@15- Because they're eating a more and more American diet. Diabetes and heart disease are way up in Japan too.

@15- Really? When I was in Ireland in '90, (high-tech manufacturing was just getting started there), I had never seen so many thin people who ate so much. As if the Potato Famine of the 1800's never left their gene pool.
So now they're a bunch of fatties like us Americans, eh? Must be high-tech.

@15 - Clearly this is a case of bad accounting, derivatives, and Goldman Sachs.

Processed foods which are designed to short-circuit your fullness trigger.

@23, ftw.

Whenever, there's no story for the day or week, there's always an obesity story to cover. Just put up a bunch of pictures of obese people, and children just about to put food into their open mouths--and bam, story.