The 1980's: Rise of Obesity

The 1980s were a wonderful time for me. I was enjoying a great childhood with some of the greatest toys and video games ever made (but I may be a tad biased). The clothes were a bit weird which makes it all the more strange to see them making a comeback. Girls feel free to wear your high waist jeans and guys you can wear your clunky high tops, just as long as we do not have a comeback of 1980s nutritional advice.

You see, the science was building (not good science by the way) in the late 1970s that fat was bad for you. This thought process continued into the early 1980s and truly took off. Some of the substitutions suggested by researchers were not bad; more fruits, vegetables and whole grains, for example. Unfortunately, the only thing Americans heard was “Fat bad, Grains good.”

Am I blaming researchers or government guideline writers? No, they are simply doing their job and I am an advocate for personal responsibility. Americans (or anyone else for that matter) make food decisions with their health and preferences in mind like anyone else. And their decisions will reflect whether they value their health more than simply satisfying taste buds.

The marketing departments of food manufacturers went nuts, everything was marketed as “low-fat”. Again, I am not blaming the marketing departments. They did their jobs extremely well.

While this picture is not from the 80s, it is a good example of how to make a snack food almost seem good for you; “low fat”, “whole grain”, “good source of fiber”. You don’t want to get your fiber from broccoli or apples, just have some poptarts. In case you don’t click the picture, that pop tart has 35g carbs and 15g sugar. And here are some select ingredients: sugar, corn syrup, dextrose, high fructose corn syrup. All forms of sugar. Call it what you want, but biochemically, your body sees sugar.

The picture below is telling. On the chart you see the overweight population has remained relatively stable. But take a look at the obese and extremely obese lines. There is a steady increase in the percentage of American’s who are obese since 1976-1980. The lines prior to that time period were fairly steady. But now the obesity is moving upward at a frighteningly persistent trend.

Are there other factors to consider besides a poor application of 1980's nutritional advice? Undoubtedly.

Adults and children are not as physically active as their predecessors were 40 or more years ago. Total caloric consumption is up as well. Americans increased their daily intake of calories by about 500 since 1970, from around 2100 to about 2600.

If we had started to eat more “low fat” foods in the 1980's but decreased our consumption elsewhere to keep calories constant, we would probably see much less obesity. Unfortunately, Americans wanted to have their “low fat” cake and eat it too, along with all of the other stuff they should have been cutting from their diets.

More calories and less activity; that is a definite recipe for weight gain.

So girls, wear shoulder pads and big hair. Guys, rock the denim jacket. Both of you, tight roll your pants if you want to. But please, let’s not bring back 1980’s nutritional advice.