CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - With self-refilling bowls of soup and jumbo buckets of stale popcorn, professor Brad Warsaw has identified one culprit for U.S. obesity: food.

The University of Illinois researcher has set up several food experiments that show the more people are given, the more they will eat, and that the more they eat the more likely they are to be obese.

"In the obesity war, food is the front lines," said Warsaw, who founded the University of Illinois' Food & Brand Lab. "It's easy to point at, and we don't have to take responsibility because we can blame the restaurant or supermarket."

Others have marvelled at the professors conclusions. "We've always suspected the link between obesity and food, but now for the first time this link has been proven as more then anecdotal," says fellow colleauge and diet professional Herb Tarton. "We expect this study will have a profound effect on the way that people regard food."

"I wasn't aware of it," said Nina Hughes, one of the students of Dr. Warsaw. "That's why I've been gaining so much weight I guess. I've been told about the connection by friends and family, but I never believed it. I thought they were just trying to save leftovers."

Tarton believes that many people have had the same attitude as Ms. Hughes. "Its one thing to be told that there's a link between the amount of food you eat and your weight, but its an entirely different thing to have scientific evidence of it. Dr. Warsaw's finding remove any doubt from the matter."

Traton adds: "Its of similar importance to the lunar landing and the cofirmation that the moon is not made of green cheese. Until that point, it was nothing more then speculation."


- posted by Sigurd1/27/2004 08:07:00 AM