Wednesday 28 February 2001

Pic of the day: "Male pregnancy syndrome", or beer belly, here illustrated with the help of a pillow. (No, really!)

Heavier Norwegians

The clock radio woke me up to some heavy news: Norwegian men have on average gained 3 kilogram in the course of 3 years. If you don't know what a kilogram (kg) is, take my word that it is quite a bit. The story has been all over the news since. And the most surprising thing is that the weight gain seems to be quite impartial: It hits smokers as well as non-smokers, and those who exercise as well as those who don't!

People with a sense of detail (lawyers, theologists etc) will notice that only weight is mentioned, not fat. In fact, we don't know if these people have all grown fatter. It could be muscle mass ... but for those who are already too fat, it's very hard to build muscle mass without losing at least as much fat. It is possible (see: Sumo wrestling) but it is not normal.

A more likely explanation, in my opinion, is that the muscle men have gained 3 kg muscle, and the rest have gained 3 kg fat. And again, this is an average: Even though it seems to hit every major group, it does not hit every individual.

***

There has been a polarization among Norwegian males on the matter of body shape. A growing number, especially among the young, have developed a mental illness roughly equivalent to anorexia. But while the anorexic (most often a woman) will see her body as fat while it is thin, the disturbed males will see their bodies as puny and scrawny while they are actually bulging with muscles. It probably doesn't help that these people congregate in certain training gyms in the cities, where they see mostly men of their own type. Driven to a frenzy of body building, they are likely to use dubious diet supplements and outright hormones. This is not illegal out of pure jealousy, you know: This stuff kills, or in the luckier cases just cripples.

On the other side of the street, the more relaxed males congregate at the steak house, burger house, pizzeria or fine bakery. We've got quite a bit to catch up on Americans, Germans and Danes, who are usually (with some exceptions) scaringly fat, with big bulging stomaches. This is fairly rare in Norway, but the tummies are now growing fast.

The Norwegian military a while ago announced that they are more or less giving up on recruits from southern Norway and urban areas. Until now, our military has been based on conscription, but many of the 19 years old recruits are simply too flabby to be worth training, and are sent home. The military is now cutting down on manpower and preparing the switch from conscription to hired, professional soldiers. (In all honesty, that's because of global power issues, not because of the fat teenagers, but they sure don't help.)

***

Norway is doing allright, with an income per head that just barely surpasses the USA. But we have a problem: More and more people go from the workforce to disability pensions. In part I believe this is a normal change when we leave the industrial society and enter the information society. In the past, disability was mainly in the body, and slowly accumulated over years of hard work. Today, disability is mainly in the brain; and it does not accumulate - actually, quite the opposite - but increasing complexity overtakes the workers. They were qualified for the work, but then the workplace introduces new technology which they are not able to handle. The result is a stress that destroys body and soul.

I may be wrong here (it is known to happen occasionally) but I think the changing workplace contributes to the new wave of obesity. A modern office job does not offer much physical work, but you're still exhausted when you get home. You feel like you've worked hard, but only your brain has. Since it's the brain that decides food intake and activity level, that's enough. I certainly know that I often fall asleep on the bus home, even though I spend my day sitting, standing or walking leisurely.

And for the thousands of people who seek comfort in food, things get even worse. Stress at work (and in other aspects of society too, I guess) make them reach for the ice cream. (At least in the USA, ice cream is the favorite comfort food for both sexes, surpassing even chocolate. Go figure. There is no such statistics for Norway, I think, but ice cream sells well.) And becoming fat is not likely to reduce stress in any way, quite the opposite. So, more comfort foods. Less fit for work. More comfort food. Obesity, disability, poverty.

***

Then there's the possibility of the fat virus. Some researchers have found virus that can cause chickens to grow abnormally fat. One adenovirus is suspected of causing obesity in humans: Antibodies against this virus was significantly more common in obese people than in normal or slim ones. On the other hand, there were some people who showed sign of having been infected but remained slim; and there was a great number of fat people who showed no sign of the virus. So it's certainly not the only, and almost certainly not the main, cause of obesity in humans.

But if there is such a virus at all, then it stands to reason that increased travel would bring more of the virus home to Norway, and could lead to an explosive growth in overweight. It should be possible to test for this, if there is sufficient interest: The virus not only causes people to put on lots of fat, but intriguingly also lowers the level of cholesterol. No, that's not what one would expect. And so it should be possible to notice if cholesterol levels are falling despite the increased weight. The "40 year test" which is offered to all Norwegians around the age of 40 measures height, weight, blood pressure and also cholesterol. A simple database query should be able to say whether the cholesterol levels follow the weight up, or not.

But until then ... have a skim yoghurt and take the stairs, OK?