Ten people are about to find out just how fat they can get. Thanks to Horizon they’re going to spend four weeks eating more than they’ve ever done before of all the foods we’re always being told to avoid. This month of gluttony is all to answer a question that Science has struggled with for forty years – Why are thin people not fat? Horizon: Why Are Thin People Not Fat? BBC 2009
Could it be true that some people can eat as much as they want without becoming obese? And if so, how do they do it? ibid.
Our fat is our body’s built-in emergency rations. And the more fat we have the longer we can keep going without eating. ibid.
According to this theory, at times of famine it was literally a case of survival of the fattest. ibid.
Our eating behaviours are fixed from a very young age. ibid.
Different groups of scientists have different theories to explain how people’s bodies use up excess calories if they are not storing them as fat. ibid.
Humanity’s most fundamental relationship is with what we eat. But nowadays in wealthy countries we’re eating far too much of the wrong things. And we pay the consequences of our expanding waistlines with an epidemic of diseases that kill. Dr Susan Jebb: Horizon: A Diet Guide 2010
The developing tide of obesity was to have serious consequences affecting the way we live and how we die. ibid.
It would be another twenty years before the connection between heart disease and increased levels of saturated fat in our diet could be graphically demonstrated. ibid.
We now know that the best way to lose weight other than a healthy diet is to exercise. ibid.
Scientists suddenly clocked that maybe what they should be looking at was what was driving us to eat so much – our appetites. Proving its importance was a different matter. ibid.
Researchers then looked at humans and discovered that the hormone leptin was a messenger molecule for us too. ibid.
We still don’t have a medical solution to obesity. ibid.
As a nation we are slowly but surely getting fatter. We’re all eating well, maybe too well. Gabriel Weston, Horizon: The Truth About Fat, BBC 2012
What is it about this epidemic that operates so randomly? ibid.
It’s the fatty calorie-rich foods we love the most. ibid.
Nearly a quarter of the adult population is clinically obese. ibid.
They discovered two new hormones – Ghrelin and PYY – that together seem to control appetite and weight. ibid.
I’m pretty shocked to discover that my assumption of a lifetime which is that I’m the size I am because of my character is nonsense. ibid.
What was making these twins so different in weight? ibid.
Professor Spector: Stress can create parallel but different strategies. ibid.
The biggest single factor causing a child to be fat was the nine months it spent in its mother’s womb. ibid.
A new set of answers is emerging which could help us to defeat what to me is one of the defining epidemics of our age. ibid.
Which is worse for us? Fat or sugar? Horizon: Sugar v Fat, BBC 2014
Over in America it’s sugar that’s under attack. ibid.
It’s known as the hormone hypothesis. ibid.
High protein diets make you feel fuller. ibid.
‘Eating lots of fat makes my body insulin defective.’ ibid.
Professor Susan Jebb’s long-term study ... ‘You can cut calories ... it's about the overall balance of diet.’ ibid.
The world is getting fatter – processed food. ibid.
Fat and sugar together ... the real problem. ibid.
This is either a protein-rich and nutrient-packed dietary necessity or an artery-clotting life-shortening food to avoid. I am genuinely confused. Dr Michael Mosley, Horizon: Should I Eat Meat? BBC 2014
What's in it that’s doing the harm? ibid.
When the connection between fat and heart trouble was made, red and processed meat were firmly in the firing line. ibid.
Carnitine can react with bacteria in our guts to produce TMAO, a substance that can slow down removal of cholesterol from our arteries. ibid.
What is it that makes processed meat like ham and bacon potentially carcinogenic? ibid.
Today in Britain 11 million of us are on a diet, yet 80% of us fail. So how can we make our diets work? Scientists believe they may have the answer. Horizon: What’s the Right Diet For You? BBC 2015
We’re conducting one of Britain's biggest diet experiments ... successful dieting should be tailored to each of us as individuals based on their genes, their hormones and their psychological profile. Horizon: What’s the Right Diet For You? II
75 overweight individuals and divided them into three groups. ibid.
Constant Cravers, Emotional Eaters, the Feasters (they produce less of a hormone that tells them when they’re full). ibid.
Soup has sometimes been shown to fill you up even more than solid veg. This is what makes it a handy dieting tool. ibid.
When your parents told you to eat more slowly they had a point. Horizon: What’s the Right Diet For You? III
Imagine if the food you choose could clean your body and make you feel well … Clean is a totally new approach to food driven by social media. Horizon: Clean Eating – The Dirty Truth, BBC 2017
Can we really eat ourself well? ibid.
Cutting out one food stuff we’ve eaten for millennia: Gluten. ibid.
The China Study has sold two million copies. ibid.
Everyone wants to be thin … and yet 60% of us are overweight. In the middle of an obesity crisis, the multi-billion-pound weight-loss business is bigger than ever … The men who have made their fortunes by selling us the dream of being thin through diet, and left us fatter than ever. Jacques Peretti, The Men Who Made Us Thin I, BBC 2013
27 million of us in the UK have tried to diet in the last year. ibid.
The more diets we undertake, the fatter we’re getting. ibid.
Minnesota 1944: [Ancel] Keys showed that trying to lose weight long-term by dieting wouldn’t work. ibid.
The US government adopted the MetLife standard, and mass neurosis spread through the nation. ibid.
Our biology can prevent us keeping the weight off. ibid.
I wanted to find out how Slimfast became so successful. ibid.
Their shame is the industry’s guarantee of profits. ibid.
Atkins was the first international diet guru. ibid.
They started selling Weight Watchers franchises. ibid.
I’ve come to this extreme slimming class to find out just how much effort is required to lose weight through exercise. Jacques Peretti, The Men Who Made Us Thin II
The meteoric growth of the fitness industry worth nearly £4 billion a year. ibid.
The calorie-burning effects are limited by your metabolism. ibid.
How did we get sold the idea that exercise would make us thin? ibid.
Jane Fonda’s Workout: it revolutionized fitness. ibid.
A number of the headline Olympic sponsors were food giants. ibid.
Obesity has become increasingly medicalised. ibid.
The dream of a pill that makes us thin has been with us for years. ibid.
Fenfluramines were sold in America … Potentially a nightmare. ibid.
GlaxoSmithKline Health Care Fraud GSK: ‘The US government is calling it the biggest case of health care fraud in American history.’ ibid. tv news
In 2008 Rimonabant was withdrawn from sale. ibid.
Surgery has always been for the obese, but a new ground-breaking operation is now available for overweight people who want to be thin. Jacques Peretti, The Men Who Made Us Thin III
The move had astonishing implications effectively making 29 million Americans fat overnight. ibid.