View full lesson: http://ed.ted.com/lessons/what-is-obesity-mia-nacamulli Obesity is an escalating global epidemic. It substantially raises the probability of diseases like diabetes, heart...
========== The most basic function of bodily fat
is self-storage of food reserves.In prehistoric times, natural selection
favored genotypesthat could endure harsh conditions
by stocking the most fat.With chronic malnutrition being
the norm for most of human history,genetics evolved to favor fat storage.So when did body fat become problematic?The negative impacts of being overweight
were not even noted in medical literatureuntil as late as the 18th century.Then, technological advances coupled
with public health measuresresulted in the betterment of the
quantity, quality, and variety of food.Sustained abundance of good food
enabled a healthier populationto boom economically.Output increased,
and with it, leisure timeand waistlines.By the mid 19th century, being excessively
overweight...
