Thank you, India Knight, for your rational honesty.

Genes have a lot of explaining to do if they're to be blamed for a tripling in child obesity in just three decades... Not to mention, these fat genes must be affecting everyone in the house, as 30-50% of America's dogs and cats are overweight... (Not sure about the UK figures on domestic pets.)

None of us would be here today if we weren't good at bingeing and storing fat... Only the the genetics to survive famine have made it this far. So the question now is after eons of surviving scarcity, which genes will survive abundance?

Darwin seems to have an answer: Obesity hinders fertility, pregnancy and delivery, and results in a higher incidence of birth defects.

There are plenty of folks out there living healthfully in defiance of their "Fat Genes." Let's avert this crisis from the path of children and dedicate ourselves to PREVENTION.

MeMe Roth, CHC

Nat'l Action Against Obesity
www.actionagainstobesity.com
www.MeMeRoth.net

MeMe Roth, New York, New York, USA

Fat people why do you ask our acceptance?

Fat people are a massive drain on UK finances.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2007/sep/09/5

That means that whilst people choose to be fat, everyone, without choice, has to pay for it. Therefore people of normal weight have a legitimate cause for concern, the fattest people are of the lower socio economic groupings (courtesy of a europe wide study of 40,000 people).

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/markets/europe/article1295696.ece

Because they earn less they pay the least taxes. Yet they are the largest drain on financial resources, that's like going to a restaurant and eating the most whilst paying the least (that's an analogy I thought you fatties might understand).

Now do you understand why regular, normal people don't accept fat people?

Eat less, exercise more = A thinner you

James M, London,

The average resting human body puts out between 80 and 100 Watts of heat. Less than that and you feel hot; more than that and you feel cold. Spread over 24 hours (and converted to imperial units), that's somewhere between 1600 and 2000 kcal. Put more in and the body will store it as fat (approx 5000 kcal per pound). Put less of it in and the reverse happens.

Basic thermodynamics and conservation of energy. Fat cannot come out of thin air or be "melted away" with wonder drugs.

Steve Amphlett, Worthing, UK

Dan'l In Portland :
To be fair to Ms Knight, there is a certain form expected of people writing for newspapers rather than academic journals, I wish there weren't but there we go.
Anyway I was rather intruiged and confused regarding your point about East Africans, I think the issue is not East Africans but any population on the planet where food is not abundant will tend to show that in these circumstances people are slim.
I'm totally unconvinced by the genetics argument, I think the issue of obesity is 99% psychology.

Dave, Bristol,

Dear Ms. Knight: It's unfortunate that you've taken a decent point (overindulgence in the west) and muddied it by denying facts. Body type (including 'fat') is often genetic. That hasn't been disagreed with by nutritionists or geneticists for quite some time. The point is, what can you do with what you have; how can you best use the body God gave you. Much of the obesity and overweightness in the west is self-induced. Diet, exercise, rest, stress...all the standard culprits are in the police line-up. But, that doesn't mean someone who's large is abusing their body.

And your point about east Africans is rather disingenuous. To wit, I have many relatives with a similar morphology: and it ain't skinny. However, I have ZERO east African's in my family tree for the last 8-10 generations. Likewise, they do not have my western european genes in their ancestry. Didn't you know that people are different?

Funny how journalists have such a relationship of convenience with facts & science.

Dan'l, Portland, US/Maine

Claudia in Atlanta : You are perpetuating a widespread myth about eating, the person who eats more does so because they have developed a habit to do so. Permanently changing these habits requires dispensing with excuses and self-deception and stopping the bad eating habits for good, then not seeing oneself as someone who "deserves a treat" for self-restraint. There are far more rewarding things in life than eating.

Dave, Bristol,

"have a challenge for you all. Try to exist on half your normal food intake for two weeks, and then see how you feel!!!"

normal food intake? it's not 'normal' thats the point!

my friend has type 1 diabetes and is so frustrated that people give themselves type 2 despite very loud and clear warnings.

lifestyle has changed. more people are in office work than manual labour now. sat on your bum all day at work gives you no exercise, and you can munch on food whilst you work. but even that's no excuse, it is self restraint. simple.

fine, eat chocolate cake! it tastes good! just don't eat it everyday.

Rach, Cardiff, Wales

Society in general has evolved into a blameless culture over the last 15-20 years or so. People are more selfish, and are less likely to accept responsibilty for their own actions, getting fat is easy that's why so many people do it. The path of least resistance is now the more likely choice of anyone who thinks that maybe getting rid of the fat can be done with magic pills and potions.

Tony, Midlands,

The Archbishop has made much of the misreporting by the media, which to an extent seems true. Nevertheless he was asking how aspects of Sharia law can be accomodated into British law, for example divorce and inheritance law, laws that do not give equal rights to men and women, Muslims and non-Muslims. The Archbishop's comments are at best naive.

Nick Lowe, Maidenhead,

What many don't grasp is what's genetic is your baseline appetite level. Some people can eat a couple of tablespoons of icecream and be full. Others can eat the whole container and not be full. Probably in earlier times, many people just existed in a state of greater hunger than others as they all had to eat the same amount of food. For all of you people advocating the fatties to "just lose weight", I have a challenge for you all. Try to exist on half your normal food intake for two weeks, and then see how you feel!!!

Claudia, Atlanta, USA

Hi India. I usually enjoy reading your articles, but not so much today. I'm not sure I can do this justice by putting it in my own words, so I'm adding a link. If you -- or any of your readers -- have the time and inclination to have a read of this and other, similar blogs, you might find them interesting.

http://kateharding.net/but-dont-you-realize-fat-is-unhealthy/

I hope they at least make you a little more open-minded about obesity and fatness.

Mrs Fisch, Northern Italy,

I agree with all of that apart from "We need to educate ourselves about nutrition and we need to read the label" It is not about reading lables, it is about buying food without lables, fresh food, with which you make things. A stir fry of wonderful quality is done, start to finish, in 45 mins. People with weight problems, don't need to not like food as much, they need to like food more. Then they would care about the real quality and unadulterated delight that freach food can bring.

Brian, Oxford,

I certainly have to agree with this. I was always terribly sympatric with fat people until I lived with one. I had a chubby roommate, who became fat, then obese to the point of breaking furniture--all before my very eyes. Finally, I had to ask him to leave.
Although one person does not a study make, the fact that he would not take responsibility for his body and diet--it was appalling--seemed to me to inevitably creep into other areas of domestic life. After breaking a solid oak desk chair, he insisted that it was a design flaw of a chair made since 1850 or so, and not the rolls of his fat taxing the struts. Of course, he refused pay for getting it fixed. Nor to fix the depressions in a pine floor from the breakfast chair legs. As for other psychological tidbits, I can only say that he was a shrink's smorgasbord.
For better or worse, I now look at the obese as individuals with deeply, deeply unresolved problems. I know that when I was putting on lbs, I simply changed my life.

JHSibal, Kew Gardens, , NYC, USA

I simply couldn't agree more.

Rob, London, UK