Horizon – Why Are Thin People Not Fat?
It is estimated that there are now more people on the planet at risk from obesity-related diseases than there are suffering from starvation. Western society in the 21st century is eating itself into an early grave but, while the ranks of the overweight and obese are swelling, there is a significant proportion of the population who are apparently immune to this phenomenon.
Horizon – the BBC’s flagship science strand – sets out to discover what is keeping these people thin. Are some people really able to consume as much as they like without becoming obese? If so, how do they do it?
Ten volunteers have agreed to eat double their normal intake of calories over four weeks to see how their bodies cope with a month-long chocolate, cake and fast-food frenzy.
The test is based on a 1967 experiment on Vermont State Prison inmates, in which medical researcher Ethan Simms recruited a group of prisoners to eat as much as they could until they had gained an extra 25 per cent of their original body weight. The reward was early release. Despite eating up to 10,000 calories per day, only six of the nine who took part succeeded. The experiment seemed to show that, however available and calorie-rich food is, not everyone will become overweight.
More than 40 years on, Horizon, with the help of Swedish scientist Fredrik Nystrom from the University of Linkoping, follows the volunteers over the course of the month to find out what is happening to the extra calories they are consuming, and why their bodies respond in such different ways.
Horizon also meets Professor Jane Wardle from University College London, who is exploring whether eating habits are genetic or learned, and Dr Nikhil Dhurandhar, who believes a virus could be responsible for some cases of obesity.
The programme asks whether obesity has an evolutionary advantage, if there could be a genetic basis to will-power, and whether people have a natural weight that their bodies strive to maintain, however much they eat or exercise.
Monday 26 January
9.00-10.00pm BBC TWO
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I am interested in this show.. at 25 I have been around 9.5 – 10 stone for the last 10 years…whenever i have tried to blast calories into my system and weight training, i have only been able to get at peak 10.5 stone….. but its too hard to sustain this mentally/physically and financially…food costs money!
Its about time skinny people had something about them…..its hard work trying to force feed yourself..fat people have got it easy…just don’t eat..the money you save on food you can go to the gym with.
Anyways, maybe i might learn smething from the show, that can help me with my mission: Operation Incredible Bulk.
doh! i missed it….iplayer beckons
I’m so glad this program has been made; I am just under 8stone and have been for as long as i can remember. I eat like a pig and do minimum excercise (walking around the offic at most). No one ever believed me that i could be naturally underweight and eat what i do, but this program has shown that there is other people like me. I wish i had known about it, I would have definitely applied!
I was very interested in this programme and looked for comments but they all seem to be from “fat” people wishing they were a “thin” person. I’m a “thin” person and always thought that this was just the way it was – that my body wanted to be this weight. It was quite refreshing to see this programme and no longer have to think I’m a freak – I am just pre-programmed to be this way. The experiment with kids was particularly interesting – as kids, my sister and I both had access to the biscuit tin at home – she woudl always go straight for it after a meal and I would sometimes have some if I was in the mood. I’ve always eaten what I want when I want – which does mean pigging out or eating rubbish when I feel like it but my weight never seems to get affected. Was a skinny kid and been a size 10 for the past 25 years. After watching the programme I might actually feel some sympathy for all the people who tell me they hate me for it as I can see that I’m lucky I can work with, rather than against, mother nature!