09/29/08 Obesity Cause

In the endless and ever growing search, no pun intended, for the true underlying cause of obesity some researchers are now stating that intellectual work induces a substantial increase in calorie intake and might very well explain our nation's obesity epidemic. To reach this conclusion researchers measured food intake of student volunteers after completing a series of mentally taxing tests. Despite that researchers had already shown mental activity requires only three calories more than when a person is in a restive state; the volunteers still consumed 203 to 253 more calories after testing. Now, whether the increase in appetite was due to a biological factor of the human brain or a stress induced response due to testing remains to be seen. But to state as one researcher did that caloric overcompensation following intellectual work could contribute to the obesity epidemic and therefore should not be ignored might be a bit of an overstatement. It may just boil down to the simple equation of college students and a free buffet.