Green | January 15, 2009 | 81 comments

Nope, McDonald's isn't making us fat

source: http://www.usnews.com/blogs/capital-commerce/2009/01/05/nope-mcdonalds-isnt-making-us-fat.html

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Gregorous
Don't blame fast-food restaurants for why America seems so supersized. This new economic study from Northwestern University and UC Berkeley seems to disprove the the common nutritional myth:

The results find no evidence of a causal link between restaurants and obesity, and the estimates are precise enough to rule out any meaningful effect.

Analysis of food intake micro data suggests that although consumers eat larger meals at restaurants than at home (even after accounting for selection), they offset these calories at other times of day.

We conclude that public health policies targeting restaurants are unlikely to reduce obesity but could negatively affect consumer welfare.
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81 comments // Nope, McDonald's isn't making us fat

  • SHAWN_RITTIMAN
  • carmalite
    • 0
      carmalite  

    • There is enough saturated fat in a fast food meal to meet the amount one should have for an entire week, and enough calories for 2 days.

      Anyone who eats this stuff often will get fat.

    • 3 years ago
  • northerntouchblog
  • Alex2112
  • Found_Avenue
    • 0
      Found_Avenue  

    • Ultimately, its a person's lack of self control that makes them fat, not the mere existence of these places.

      If you have a taste for something, and cannot control yourself, that's your problem.

      In my opinion, McDondalds is vile. If i'm craving a hamburger, I can make a better one than theirs any day. There is nothing about that place that makes my mouth drool. Same for most fast food - its awful.

    • 3 years ago
  • daveguy
    • 0
      daveguy  

    • The problem with this research is that it makes one bogus assumption:

      People who eat large meals offset the calorie intake throughout the day.

      I read the study, and didn't find any indication that the researchers were basing this statement on fact. If you can find the source, I'd appreciate the link.

      Additionally, the researchers state "this paper aims to evaluate whether regulations focused on raising the effective price of restaurants are likely to succeed in reducing obesity." Which is different that trying to find out if McDonald's actually makes you a fatty because of the ingredients.

      Thanks

    • 3 years ago
  • thewarnerla
    • 0
      thewarnerla  

    • I eat Mickey D's because its cheap and tastes bomb. I also go work out everyday and don't sit on my ass. Get active and then you can eat anything you want.

    • 3 years ago
  • cantucwearebrothers
  • Mark701
    • 0
      Mark701  

    • It is important to know who funded this study. If it was completely independent the results are more believeable, however if it was funded by McDonalds or the fast food industry as a whole, the results must be viewed as questionable.

    • 3 years ago
  • IMMININT
  • islek
    • 0
      islek  

    • The only muscle the United States likes to exercise is their index finger to point the blame at someone else all the time.

      Take responsibility for the amount and type of food you consume and for the amount of physical activity you do or do not engage in!

    • 3 years ago
  • poosta7
    • 0
      poosta7  

    • JUNK FOOD AND JUNK SCIENCE!!!!
      Dr. Andrew Weil has pointed out (correctly) that if you used all of the scientific nutritional data currently availa ble to design the worst possible food for humans it would be fast food where McDonalds reigns supreme. The "scientific study" would have been more credible if it recorded blood cholesterol, blood pressure, %body fat and metabolic syndrome.

    • 3 years ago
  • noxidereus
    • 0
      noxidereus  

    • Who funded this? The statement that people eat more at restaurants, but offset the calories at other times of the day seems ridiculous to me. I don't understand that logic. The simple act of going to McDonald's, for example, does not make it more likely that you will offset your calories later in the day. The conclusion of this study is meaningless because it doesn't change the fact that McDonald's food is very fattening. If you tend to eat more fattening food, you will be heavier and less healthy.

      Of course it is peoples' choice to overconsume, but capitalism and overconsumption are making us fat. Advertising does indeed affect peoples' choices on what to eat (otherwise McDonald's wouldn't spend so much money on it). We know that corporations do indeed pay to have advertising hidden in news stories. Since the overall message seems to be saying that it's OK to eat at McDonald's and you won't get fat. I tend to feel that this article is nothing more than a canned news McDonald's advertisement.

    • 3 years ago
  • cantucwearebrothers
  • akassan
  • meganae
  • AlvinLam
    • 0
      AlvinLam  

    • Wow, are you kidding me what about the movie SuperSize Me that guy ate mcdonalds breakfast, lunch ,and dinner for 30 days and he gained like over 100 pounds. and he didn't eat anything else

    • 3 years ago
  • isnamthere
    • 0
      isnamthere  

    • If you really want to cut down on the Mickey D's, then every time you pull up to that drive thru just think about the pissed off teenager who's getting ready to hock a goober onto your big mac because he hatesa his boss and has a shitty job.

    • 3 years ago
  • ecto_man3
  • ghostbar
  • nkeg87
  • judiestar
    • 0
      judiestar  

    • McDonalds doesnt make us fat. Eating McDonalds makes us fat. Actually, its not the food per se, its the rampant over-processing of our food, that is unhealthy anf fattening. We now consume so many chemicals and preservitives that what we eat can barely be called food. I dont know what the answer is, but my family has McDonalds or the like about once, maybe twice a month, and we are all healthy and normal weight. Cook more, dont buy prepackaged meals, and eat out less. Any prepackaged meals like Hamburger Helper or whatever can be easily made with your own ingredients. That way you wont have to worry about the chemicals you are putting into your body.

    • 3 years ago
  • kcfoxie
    • 0
      kcfoxie  

    • Its amazing what limiting yourself to no more than one soft drink per day will do for your waistline.

      My biggest problem isn't that McDs and the like aren't giving us better food choices; they are. I love most of the salad selection from Wendy's, and the chicken products from mcdonals (grilled of course), but when I want something to drink it's soda, soda and sometimes tea (if you're lucky they add the sugar for you). Water fountains/spigots on the soda machine are a rare thing these days.

    • 3 years ago
  • alfitude
    • 0
      alfitude  

    • I often eat less in restaurants in the UK. But then we don't get served massive portions. Our mcflurry's are half the size of the american ones (but cost twice as much).

      Mcdonalds is tasty food, but like anything, moderation is the key.

    • 3 years ago
  • charfman
    • 0
      charfman  

    • I never patronize the place but...
      McD's doesn't make you fat but they supply another of a multitude means by which you can get fat...

      People in America are fat because...
      They are ignorant about what they eat...
      They don't care about what they eat...
      They lack the self control to limit what they eat...
      They lack the financial means to eat properly...
      They are genetically predisposed to being fat...

      It's much like the old saying that guns don't kill people but people kill people...

    • 3 years ago
  • cybexg
  • pinchot
    • 0
      pinchot  

    • the argument of mcdonalds making americans fat is not relevent. the fact that the mcdonalds takes advantage of third world countries to bring americans cheap produce is more of an isue.

    • 3 years ago
  • schoolmarm
  • ClareW
    • 0
      ClareW  

    • I don't agree with this study at all. Fast food advertising has greatly contributed to the current obesity epidemic (if you can call it that!).... it's all about people's inability to resist things as a direct result of advertising.

    • 3 years ago
  • lordsbassman
  • Mark701
    • 0
      Mark701  
    • ClareW:

      I agree. Theis reason corporations spend hundreds of billions of dollars on advertising is because it works. This in combination with the fact that people, particularly children, are more sedentary than when I was growing up creates a big (pun intended) problem.

    • 3 years ago
  • SamuraiDave
    • 0
      SamuraiDave  

    • If Micky D's and the like was the sole reason for obesity, you'd have had these overly obese people back in the 60s and 70s. When McDonad's first came out, people thought less of exercise and nutrition than today.

      Processed food in general and corn syrup are the culprits. When soda companies switched to corn syrup in the late 70s and early 80s this is when you can start to see a trend of severe obesity within 10 years. Not all Americans eat fast food but alot of AMericans drink soda.

    • 3 years ago
  • cantucwearebrothers
  • Betico
    • 0
      Betico  

    • mcdonalds food tastes like shit. i guess thats why i'm thin or what?

      the article's title is akin to saying guns dont kill people, people kill people. no shit, but guns make it MUCH easier...

    • 3 years ago
  • petarro
    • 0
      petarro  

    • I have to definitely differ with this. Mcdonalds every day oversize their portions. And the wrong mentality of Americans of letting more for what they pay is just leading to greed and overconsumption. All of this, bringing to a point where things and health will eventually collapse.

    • 3 years ago
  • stelman
    • 0
      stelman  

    • You don't need a reseach to show you that Mc Donald's food is unhealthy. It's not just the fat. It is also the nutritional value that it carries!

    • 3 years ago
  • SonicGT
  • numinant
  • Buddha2112
    • 0
      Buddha2112  
    • SonicGT:

      Thoughts are nice, but when you're seriously broke and you are hungry as hell, a cheap burger at McDonalds looks damn delicious.

      Anyone that has a low budget (for example college students, people on welfare, people with shit jobs, etc..) can't quite focus on the future when its a struggle to get by day to day.

    • 3 years ago
  • cantucwearebrothers
  • whatahassle
    • 0
      whatahassle  
    • SonicGT:

      I really don't understand the "Lack the economic means to eat healthily" argument.

      Have you ever bought a vegetable? You could have a shopping cart full of rice, vegetables, meat, milk and eggs for the cost of McDonalds for a family of 4.

      If your fat ass is too lazy to cook...

      ...well then you may have a problem.

    • 3 years ago
  • RaceBannon
    • 0
      RaceBannon  

    • umm just eat what nature gives you, go outside and move around. duhhhh. If you have a job that makes you stay in long hours and prevents you from getting proper exercise, then demand better hours! Your health is worth every dollar on this planet...

    • 3 years ago
  • Elevator
    • 0
      Elevator  

    • The title of this article is misleading. McDonald's food can make you fat only if you let it. Michael Phelps can probably eat a lot of McDonald's. All the study concluded was that imposing a fat tax on restaurants to discourage consumption will only make people poorer, not skinnier.

    • 3 years ago
  • numinant
    • 0
      numinant  

    • no causal link? apparently they haven't seen Super Size Me. didn't it take spurlock like nine months to lose the weight he gained during those 30 days?

      i don't think they should be discussing health causality in a broad statistics study. controlled experiments would show that there is, indeed, a causal link.

    • 3 years ago
  • schoolmarm
    • 0
      schoolmarm  
    • numinant:

      apparently their study participants didn't eat at mcdonald's for every meal every day. super size me was not a controlled experiment. spurlock won't even allow anyone access to his food logs for that month, which is convenient, seeing as how it would be mathematically impossible for him to have consumed as many calories as he claimed or gained as much weight as he did if he accurately reported the number of super sizings and followed his self-made "rules" for meal-selection off the menu. not by a long shot. i actually first heard of spurlock through 30 days (i had to watch three episodes once in a waiting room), and i was horrified by his "standards" as a documentarian/social experimenter. super size me only lowered my opinion.

    • 3 years ago
  • peterhaas
    • 0
      peterhaas  

    • All day(and night,often even in our dreams)we are tempted.Food,sex,luxury,and many more.But there's a difference between instinct and free will and that's what makes us different from the animals(at least,it's supposed to be that way).And since it is my own hand that puts the food into my mouth,I decide to eat junk food or healthy things.So unless it's genetical,in the other 99% you do it yourself.So:don't blame mcDonald,just don't go there.

    • 3 years ago
  • schoolmarm
    • 0
      schoolmarm  
    • peterhaas:

      body shape is largely genetic, actually. a fair chunk of the population literally can't be healthy and thin. other people couldn't be fat if they tried, and struggle to even get their weight into "normal/healthy" range. the most accurate model i've found so far is the "set point" model: everyone is individually, genetically predisposed to a set weight range. this could mean they are naturally "obese," or "underweight," or whatever. if they exercise sanely, eat healthfully, and are fairly healthy, their weight will be at the low end. if those behaviors are reversed, it will be at the high end. they will still be within their own range. in extraordinary circumstances -- thyroid damage, major injury, eating disorder, famine -- their weight could be pushed out of that range, but once the stressor is removed, it'll go right back. the prison weight experiment demonstrated this.

      it's possible for external factors to interact with one's genes to reset that range, though. dieting tends to push it up. particular chemicals/additives could alter the balance for particular people. permanently impaired mobility. certain medications. hormonal imbalances. i do have to wonder which of these factors are responsible for rising average weights in our society. high weight can be a good thing -- being overweight is the ideal for longevity, better than "normal" or "obese," and higher birth weights are directly tied to improved infant health and survival. the definitions of "overweight" and "obese" were also modified around '99 or so, nudging million of people into "riskier" categories without their gaining an ounce. so how much of the "obesity crisis" is bad math and bad science, how much of it is hype, how much of it is truly a blessing, and how much is problematic? and once we've figured these things out, what are the causes and how can they be controlled?

    • 3 years ago
  • keviar
  • ejasun
    • 0
      ejasun  
    • Image

    • Are Restaurants Really Supersizing America?

      We conclude that public health policies targeting restaurants are unlikely to reduce obesity but could negatively affect consumer welfare.

      But a basic identification problem challenges these conclusions: does greater availability of restaurants cause obesity, or do preferences for greater food consumption lead to an increase in restaurant density? To answer this question, we design a natural experiment in which we exploit exogenous variation in the effective price of restaurants and examine the impact on consumers’ body mass.

      We use the presence of Interstate Highways in rural areas as an instrument for the supply of restaurants.

      The instrument strongly predicts restaurant access and frequency of consumption, and robustness tests support its validity.

      The results find no evidence of a causal link between restaurants and obesity, and the estimates are precise enough to rule out any meaningful effect.

      Analysis of food intake micro data suggests that although consumers eat larger meals at restaurants than at home.

      UC Berkeley, Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Giannini Foundation

    • 3 years ago
  • benzodiazepine
  • lordsbassman
  • Lbcrew
  • retran
    • 0
      retran  

    • Advice: if you're gonna post a mcdonalds article don't put their logo enlarged as the picture! It makes me hungry for a big-mac!

    • 3 years ago
  • Gregorous
  • numinant
  • vladrath
    • 0
      vladrath  

    • I belive that the study is probably accurate. However if you eat McDonalds every single day and are drinking a gallon of Coke, I doubt you are honestly following a balanced diet with plenty of fruits and vegtables.

      I don't like McDonalds and I would be happy to never eat it again, but in moderation I don't think it is to horrible every now and again.

    • 3 years ago
  • Kamilo
  • Elevator
    • 0
      Elevator  
    • Kamilo:

      It can't. They merely prove the individuals behavior of overeating remains no matter his available food options. Thus the cause of "fatness" is a ones habits.

    • 3 years ago
  • afiq980
    • 0
      afiq980  
    • Kamilo:

      Economics isnt all about money, making money and about money, or about market, stocks or whatever. It involves almost everything in daily life by what they call "incentive".

      So...economic study can say something about nutrition and biology.

    • 3 years ago
  • footystud
  • jspear
  • sgwhites
  • Matchlessman
    • 0
      Matchlessman  

    • Do guns people or do people kill people?

      I feel worried when I see two obese parents walking with obese 5-8 year olds.... There is a trend within their diet that makes these people obese. Just as these people have already commented, it is just pure garbage. If you eat nothing but McDonalds you are for sure going to have problems..... This study does nothing to address that. It comes down to the choices that people make in conjunction with that which people intake from this place!

      Don't eat fast food and you WILL be a healthier individual! Plain and simple!

    • 3 years ago
  • lordsbassman
  • bishopobispo
  • quixotic12
  • sarahmarie22
  • schoolmarm
    • 0
      schoolmarm  
    • Matchlessman:

      oh, the fallacies.

      1) weight is largely determined by genetics, not by diet. my husband looks like his biological father, not his mother and stepfather, despite having spent less than a week in his home in his entire life. twin studies support this claim. you cannot presume that "bad habits" passed from parent to child caused these family members to all be obese.

      2) who eats nothing but mcdonald's? the only person i can think of is shock-documentarian morgan spurlock, and even he only did it for a month. (my opinion of his tv series is irrelevant, so i will not go on that particular tangent, but my disagreement with the man's sloppy practices goes far beyond the one movie.) speaking of which, either his claims of how many calories he ate per day during his mcdonald's month are wrong, or he did not follow his own food-choosing rules. google tom naughton. i disagree with naughton on certain points, but he did the math on spurlock's claims and calls him a liar.

      3) are you trying to insinuate that thin people never eat at mcdonalds, and that all fat people do? i know for a fact that neither statement is true. hell, i know some people who are considered "obese" who wouldn't touch fast food with a ten-foot pole. see point one.

      4) and to bishopiso: there are people who live actively and exercise regularly, and are still fat. kelly bliss is a fabulous example. maybe you'd see more fat people exercising in public if uneducated dumbasses such as yourself didn't honk, laugh, and shout insults at them when they do so.

      if you think mcdonald's sucks, that's cool. i don't like fast food either. but trying to prop up your opinion with lies and unexamined myths while claiming them to be fact? unacceptable. follow logic, not popular opinion.

    • 3 years ago
  • wiseguy84
  • Hunab_Ku
  • Gregorous
  • lookatmypix
    • 0
      lookatmypix  

    • mcdonald sucks. It is pure garbage. Garbage does not necessarily make you fat, it does indeed make you sick, unhealthy. I couldn't care less of this research, I care that people knows the truth about these giant greedy corporates

    • 3 years ago
  • bfcooper
  • Jacques_of_Spades
  • quixotic12
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