Too much food, too little exercise.....

It has been called the "obesity epidemic," the growing wave of obesity in the American population over the past 3 decades.

When we consume more calories in a day that we burn, we gain weight, even if those calories come from the fad food group of the month fueling the lastest diet frenzy.

A new study presented by Australian researchers attempted to determine whether the major driving force for weight gain in America was due to increasingly sedentary lifestyles or increasing food consumption.

They used data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) maintained by the National Center for Health Statistics to determine the mean weight gains seen in American children and adults between 1971 and 1976 and between 1999 and 2002.

They compated this to food supply data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to determine how much food was delivered to the American population between 1970 and 2002. This allowed them to estimate how much weight gain would have been expected between these periods solely from the change in calories consumed.

The mean weight gain of 4 kg seen in children was exactly what would have been predicted by increased caloric consumption alone. In adults, the observed mean weight gain of 8.6 kg was a little less that the 10.8 kg which would have been predicted from increased caloric intake. This suggested that adults may have been increasing their physical activity to some extent to burn off these extra calories.

While we could all benefit from increased physical activity, not only for weight control, but for increased cardiovascular health, this study strongly suggests that declining the offer to "supersize" our portions may be a more efficient way to stem the growth of obesity in the American population.