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Thursday 15 March 2012

Don’t breathe, it’ll make you fat.

It would seem that you can blame any old thing on CO2.

Could CO2 emissions be making us fat?

The startling theory has been put forward by a Danish researchers, who say that the increase in obese people in Denmark is roughly equivalent to the increase of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

Researcher Lars-Georg Hersoug studied the weight of both fat and thin people over 22 years, and first strated(sic) looking for explanations after noticing even the thin people were putting on the pounds.

This really scraping the barrel. But then again if you want your funding to continue, then latch onto the climate change gravy train.

'But the study showed that thin people also get fatter, and this happened over the whole of the 22-year period of the study.'

When he looked around for other factors, he saw how the CO2 concentration of the atmosphere had also increased in correlation to the weight gain.

Oi. Correlation is by no means the answer. You should be looking for causation. The first is just just guess work, the second is fact. I suspect the reason we are all getting fatter is 1. We are all able to buy food cheaper than 22 years ago & 2. The rise in fast food outlets, where anyone can snack at any time. (You can send me a cheque to research this to: TFE, TFE Towers, Somewhere in the UK.)

Testing his hypothesis, a pilot study at university placed six men in special climate rooms, where some of them were exposed to increased amounts of CO2.

Seven hours later, the men were allowed to eat as much as they liked, and the men with more exposure to CO2 ate six per cent more food than the control group.

FFS. Six men. That really is a huge sample. Might it not be that some have different metabolic rates than others, or they hadn’t had as much to eat than the others the day before.

Junk science at it’s best.

6 comments:

  1. "When he looked around for other factors, he saw how the CO2 concentration of the atmosphere had also increased in correlation to the weight gain."

    From that same data, my interpretation is that heavier people emit more CO2 & therefore could be the cause of Global Warming.

    Can you suggest to where I should apply for a Research Grant, to investigate cause & effect?

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  2. Apparently, researchers at Newcastle University show we are programmed to be fat while in the womb.

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2115210/Losing-fight-flab-Its-mums-fault-Research-shows-programmed-fat-womb.html

    So someone's research is faulty.

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  3. "From that same data, my interpretation is that heavier people emit more CO2 & therefore could be the cause of Global Warming. "

    Nah.. heavier people emit more methane so methane, not CO2 must be the cause of global warming.

    There.. I've made another 'startling' discovery - where's me money?

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  4. "pilot study at university placed six men in special climate rooms, where some of them were exposed to increased amounts of CO2."

    Whats "increased amounts"? 1%, 10%, 50% of the atmosphere (I'd love to see that as murder by asphyxiation is a crime as far as I understand).

    Hmm, Let's see, increased CO2 content of the inspired air would trigger the chemoreceptor reflex with a resultant increase in respiratory effort (for those physiologically illiterate out there the gasping of someone asphyxiating is caused by an increase of CO2 in the blood increasing the pH, long before any drop in SpO2), increasing metabolic workload.... meaning they'd need to eat more. Tah Dah! I solved the mystery.

    If they used a much smaller percentage increase then any confined area which is shared for periods by a number of people (all expiring CO2 at a prodigious rate) will lead to weight gain. Damn! the reason I have been developing a 'spare tire' recently is obviously all that time I spend in the lift.

    Oh, and by this rationale, being cold makes you fat too (increased metabolic demand, increased fuel requirements, increased eating - Q.E.D).

    I do so appreciate the laugh these 'scientists' regularly give me, I'd appreciate it more if it wasn't for the fact they're being serious FFS

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  5. Six blokes stuck in a room are then given free food to eat and they eat more than they usually would. Go figure!!

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  6. There's an obvious fact that everyone has missed too. if the sample have all been alive for the 22 years of the study, then they're all 22 years older. and the belly does swell as you get older

    ReplyDelete

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