Why are Americans obese?

MSNBC columnist Gersh Kuntzman tackles the question of why Americans are fatter than they used to be, and fatter than people in other similarly industrialized countries.

[T]he American Journal of Public Health, . . . devoted its entire September issue to why Americans are so freakin’ fat.

If you guessed, "Because we eat so freakin' much," guess again: The supersized portions are only the half of it.

The other half, according to Kuntzman, boils down to this:

• "We're the only animals on the planet that live in communities that make us more obese."
  
• Americans bike and walk far less than Europeans.
  
• Government brings many areas of expertise in to sign off on new developments and city planning--transportation, environment, public safety, economic development, etc. But public health officials are rarely or never involved.
  
• Our communities cut us off from human contact with each other, and according to the Journal of Public Health, "a lack of social networks and diminished social capital . . . can contribute to obesity, cardiovascular disease, mental health problems, and increased rates of mortality."
  
• "No one is doing anything about all these problems."

Read Kuntzman's column for the complete story.

The September 2003 issue of the American Journal of Public Health has full text online of the articles to which Kuntzman refers.