Comments on: U.K.: Children seized from obese parents

By: John

John — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 01:20:17 +0000

let’s try that link again

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2007/jan/12/animalwelfare.world

By: John

John — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 01:18:48 +0000

I seem to remember an interesting precedent:

Brothers found guilty over ‘grossly’ obese dog

By: Tom T.

Tom T. — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 20:40:12 +0000

A 225-pound 13-year-old, 170-pound 11-year-old, and 60-pound toddler do sound gigantic, and if their weight were actually harming their health then I think there may be a case for intervention. The photograph, though, does not suggest obesity so much as large build.

By: Jane

Jane — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 18:49:29 +0000

First of all, everyone ought to know you don’t contact social services if you want help. Secondly, if two obese people have children, how likely is it that their kids will not be overweight?

By: KB

KB — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 16:46:09 +0000

Thanks CTrees, now thanks to you and Walter I got to start believing the Bat Boy stories…

By: William Nuesslein

William Nuesslein — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 14:54:25 +0000

John Rohan,
From
http://www.tcsdaily.com/article.aspx?id=100704F

The GUTS and DONALD studies join a profusion of other studies, both clinical and epidemiological, over the past fifty years demonstrating that fat children and adults as a population normally eat exactly the same as thin people. And regardless of their diets, children will still naturally grow up to be a wide range of heights and body weights. “Multiple researchers, using a variety of methodologies, have failed to find any meaningful or replicable differences in the caloric intake or eating patterns of the obese compared to the non-obese to explain obesity,” concluded David Garner, Ph.D. and Susan Wooley, Ph.D., for example, in their review of some 500 studies on weight in Clinical Psychology Review.

Random reader,

I followed Sany Swarc daily for a couple years. Her work is very professional. She knows what good science is and sites well constructed studies. She also explains clearly what is lacking in many press releases used by main stream media. She does not cherry pick.

By: Jim Collins

Jim Collins — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 13:10:34 +0000

Now you can see why the UK went anti-gun ownership. To get away with crap like this.

By: Random Reader

Random Reader — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 10:12:54 +0000

@John Rohan. Don't be silly. Overfeeding children may be potentially bad for their health, but it's not abuse– not unless the parents are tying them up and force-feeding them, anyway. There's an endless number of reasons parents could be deemed to put their offspring in danger of future ill-health or social disadvantage in one way or another (Cf Valhawk above). Meanwhile, children seized and put in state care aren't exactly guaranteed to be at no risk of physical or psychological harm. Since this is the Daily Mail we're talking about, there may, of course, be more to the case than what is stated in the article– perhaps there is reason to suspect actual abuse or neglect.

By: John Rohan

John Rohan — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 07:31:43 +0000

I have mixed feelings on this. I despise forcibly taking children from their parents, but we do so in cases of physical and mental abuse. Yet obesity can have the same consequences, or even worse in some cases.

And to #3 William Nuesslein, obesity has nothing to do with “food intake vs. exercise”? “junk food has nothing to do with obesity”? Are you serious? I’m hoping this was an attempt at sarcasm.

By: Random Reader

Random Reader — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 07:25:49 +0000

@William Nusselein. Having read Sandy Swarc’s blog in the past, I would guess she’s cherry-picking the data to some extent… however I will accept that the relationship between weight and calorie intake isn’t a simple one– people do have different metabolisms, after all.

And that reservation aside, I think the “crusade against obesity” is having some very unfortunate effects. For instance, did you know that Ralph Lauren’s alien-praying-mantis model photographs are just fine with some people, even if they do promote anorexia? Because at least that’s better than being fat, right? (Yes, there really are people who say this.)