Coursework: Understanding Obesity Unit 3 of 3

This is a look into the content of the third unit of Understanding Obesity, a free class on Coursera*. You can also pay a fee to receive a certificate if you desire, but everyone has access to a record which shows your final grade with no charge.

Here are links to my prior posts on Understanding Obesity: https://lindawbrowning.com/2023/01/02/coursework-understanding-obesity/ and https://lindawbrowning.com/2023/01/19/coursework-understanding-obesity-unit-2-of-3/

This unit starts off with some interesting experiments which support the idea that are psychological components to eating. Experiments show that that distracted eating is a very real concern: if you are not paying attention to the amount of food eaten during a meal, you will have a tendency to overeat.

My favorite example concerns an experiment using a soup bowl that had a hidden tube, so that the scientists could manipulate the amount of soup in a bowl without the subjects becoming aware. The volume of soup was secretly increased while the experiment’s subjects were still eating. Yet, the subjects continued to eat, unaware that they were full because they didn’t see the bowl getting empty. Scientists discovered that your fullness is dependent upon how much you notice that you’ve eaten, not the actual volume of food consumed (1).

Consider an application of this idea: I bring out a bag of tasty chips to snack on while watching a movie. I’m really into this movie, happily and distractedly munching away while I watch. Before I know it, the bag of chips is empty. What just happened there?

This idea was expanded upon to include the effects of “portion distortion” (2).

“The US National Institute of Health … [states] that 20 years ago a standard bagel had a diameter of around 7.5 centimeters and contained 140 kilocalories. Now, a standard bagel has doubled in diameter and contains 350 kilocalories, an increase of 210 kilocalories. It’s not just bagels, of course, cookies, muffins, steaks and burgers have all got bigger” (2).

It’s easy to make the connection between the bottomless soup bowl and portion distortion. We believe that we are still eating one bagel for breakfast, but in fact it’s more than twice as much food as we consumed 20 years ago. Assuming that the calories in toppings such as cream cheese are similarly doubled, and your beverage also increased in size – you are now having perhaps 400 extra calories without much conscious thought!

The final segments of the course are from quite a different approach – economics rather than medicine. Since my background is in economics, I found this portion to be particularly interesting. Others may disagree!

At the heart of this is behavioral economics, which aims to understand how and why people make choices. If the government or an institution can predict consumer behavior, they can make policies that will basically manipulate consumers. It’s pretty clear that these ideas can be used in both helpful and harmful ways depending upon the intent of the business or agency.

One simple example is default options at restaurants. If a large meal is the default option on a fast-food menu, and customers are in a hurry since it’s fast food they’re buying, the restaurant will sell more large meals. It’s in the restaurant’s best (short-term) interest to do this, so they can maximize profits. They have nudged their customers in the direction that benefits the business.

What if the government intervened, forcing or incentivizing businesses to make it more convenient for consumers to choose the healthier option or the smaller portion size? Some would quickly point out that the government is trying to exert control over us. We don’t like that, right? So does this mean you’d prefer that a mega corporation exert control over you instead?

Have you seen the documentary Super Size Me (3)? It’s really an eye-opening experience and worth taking a look. The maker of the film gained 24.5 pounds in just one month – but took 14 months to lose it all. Sounds familiar…

What we want is likely neutrality, but when does that exist? We have lobbyists trying to affect policies coming from every side. This is a very difficult problem, perhaps best solved by all of us planning out what we will eat in advance or preparing our own food. Then we will have the ultimate control rather than business or government interests.

(1). https://www.coursera.org/learn/understanding-obesity

(2). https://d3c33hcgiwev3.cloudfront.net/bc4db21dd7d80dadc12a91cdc0170de2_MOOCcast-3.1-transcript.pdf?Expires=1674604800&Signature=FrwXJ6X37~-qavJHFOjUenhYBe~Ga0y6J5x7Oj~EiOLtKip6Vs5VxNtLaU~MxLHbqg6R3ZKaQc0AUope3Lt7rkrmauMB4RFCKfjt-wg2vf3j2siBDhWU3JgDyA7FfDYL-M3e2uYXRJ1e3rF-KD~PksCClcaVAEiKcwjycb6iJTQ&Key-Pair-Id=APKAJLTNE6QMUY6HBC5A

(3). https://m.imdb.com/title/tt0390521/

* The section of this unit on food insecurity will be discussed in a later post. There is also a fourth unit, but that one is just two essays and test – no new material.