The title of this post is a real mouthful, Natural Weight Loss and the Obesogenic Environment.  We have been seeing more research which talks about the “obesogenic environment” as a risk factor for obesity, and wanted to talk a little about it. We recently came across this article on the website  PLoS One with this title: “Evidence That Obesity Risk Factor Potencies Are Weight Dependent, a Phenomenon That May Explain Accelerated Weight Gain in Western Societies.”

“Obesity (body mass index, BMI, ?30 kg/m2) has increased from 15% to 33% in U.S. adults between 1980 and the early 2000′s, and is projected to affect over 50% by 2030. The obesity epidemic has been most often ascribed to the confluence of two factors: 1) the emergence of the obesogenic environment, consisting of diminished physical activity and the availability and promotion of inexpensive, palatable, energy-dense foods; and 2) a genetic legacy that favors storing fat in anticipation of times of food scarcity. The epidemic is hypothesized to be due to the mal-adaptation of this genetic legacy to the obesogenic environment. Although other factors may also contribute to the recent rise in obesity, there appears to be widespread consensus regarding the importance of the obesogenic environment.

…The increases in BMI over the last several decades have not been distributed evenly throughout the BMI distribution, but rather have been proportionately greater for the higher BMI population percentiles.

…A recent series of papers has demonstrated that the increase in BMI associated with sedentary lifestyle is substantially greater among individuals at the higher percentiles of the BMI distribution than among lean individuals. Other obesity risk factors may also become progressively more potent with increasing adiposity. This suggests to us that an individual’s obesity may itself be or become a significant part of their obesogenic environment, and the epidemic of obesity in the population could be the product of a cycle of weight gain and increased sensitivity to obesity risk factors in its members...”

Read the full article here: PLoS One Obesity Risk

PLoS One is a website for “peer reviewed science” and so it can be a little hard to understand. We want to explain a few things with simpler terminology.

The article explains the “obesogenic environment” as being made up of less exercise, or fewer calories burned, and the availability and advertising of  cheap calorie dense foods which taste good. It also talks about another reason that has been pointed out as a cause of the obesity epidemic, the genetic (inborn) trait of the body to store fat to get through times when less food is available. This trait was useful for survival when food was scarce periodically, but with food readily available year round, it can make weight gain inevitable, and weight loss difficult.

The article also suggests that being overweight is itself part of the obesogenic environment, and makes more weight gain more likely.

This does not mean that you should give up your natural weight loss efforts, it just means you need to be diligent. Using the natural weight loss strategies we talk about here regularly, you can lose weight, and never feel you are on a diet. (Regular physical activity, and healthy eating choices.)

Remember that you did not gain weight overnight, don’t expect to lose it overnight. Slow and steady weight loss is much easier to maintain, and the only kind of weight loss we promote at Simple Natural Weight Loss.

Incoming search terms for the article:

• environment and weight loss
• factors which contribute to an obesogenic environment