Rethinking Thin: The New Science of Weight Loss---and the Myths and Realities of Dieting [Paperback]

Gina Kolata (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 29, 2008

A New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice

In this eye-opening report, New York Times science writer Gina Kolata shows that our society's obsession with dieting is less about keeping trim and staying healthy than about money, power, trends, and impossible ideals. Kolata's account of four determined dieters in a study comparing the Atkins diet to a low-calorie one becomes a broad tale of science and society, of social mores and social sanctions, and of the place of diets in American society. Brimming with anecdote, scientific data, and common sense, Rethinking Thin offers a challenge to the conventional wisdom about diets and weight loss.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. New York Times reporter Kolata may be the best writer around covering the science of health. Here she offers an eye-opening book that questions all our received wisdom about why we get fat and the health hazards of those extra pounds. In chapters equally entertaining and dismaying, Kolata (Flu) traces the history of dieting fads back to the 19th century; discusses our changing ideas about the ideal body (thinner and thinner); and, most importantly, explains how genetic and biochemical understanding has (at least among researchers) replaced the view of obesity as a lack of self-control. Most dramatic is Kolata's recounting of Jeff Friedman's groundbreaking search at Rockefeller University for the "satiety factor," a hormone he called leptin that tells our brains when we're full. The science alternates with moving chapters in which Kolata follows a group of people in a weight-loss study who are trying desperately to get thin—a quest that, as Kolata makes increasingly clear is sadly futile. In her final—and perhaps most surprising—chapter, Kolata blasts those in the obesity industry—such as Jenny Craig and academic obesity research centers—who are invested in promoting the idea that overweight is unhealthy and diet and exercise are effective despite a raft of evidence to the contrary. This book will change your thinking about weight, whether you struggle with it or not. (May)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

*Starred Review* When New York Times science writer Kolata took an unbiased look at society's war on fatness, she found that the spoils of the conflict fatten the pockets of a multibillion-dollar dieting industry, while most ever-hopeful yet hapless dieters lose only money. Why, then, do we still repeat a mantra--"eat less and exercise more"--that has failed dieters for 2,000 years? Why, in diet study after diet study, do chubby participants consistently fail to reach their target weights? And why do the majority of dieters end up regaining most of their hard-lost weight, or regaining and then exceeding it? Following up on participants in a two-year clinical weight-loss study comparing the overall efficacies of the Atkins diet and a highly regarded low-calorie, low-fat diet opened Kolata's eyes to the plight of millions who can't seem to measure down to today's weight ideals. The experience led her to examine the millennia-old history of humanity's battle against the bulge. She interviewed several credentialed authorities, and she cites sound scientific evidence that calls in question the productiveness of common weight-loss methods. Her report reveals well-documented intelligence certain to annoy those segments of society and commerce that stubbornly cling to the ignis fatuus that all one needs to be thin is willpower. Donna Chavez
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Picador; 1st edition (April 29, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312427859
• ISBN-13: 978-0312427856
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (60 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #703,987 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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149 of 157 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A must read..., May 13, 2007

By 

M. Nichols (San Francisco, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Rethinking Thin: The New Science of Weight Loss--and the Myths and Realities of Dieting (Hardcover)

Gina Kolata's "Rethinking Thin" deserves a place on the best-seller list. It is a comprehensive and highly readable examination of why most diets fail. Her thesis is rooted in science and research dating back as far as the 1940s. Many of her findings will be no surprise to people who have struggled with their weight. Kolata's bottom line: genetics play a far bigger role in weight than will power, exercise, or food choices.

The book begins with details of a University of Pennsylvania study. A group of obese volunteers are divided into two groups (one using the Atkins diet, the other a low calorie diet) and agree to have their progress monitored very closely over a two year period. Most lose some weight (typically 10% of their body weight) before hunger takes over and they find themselves backsliding.

The chapters about this U Penn study alternate with others in which Kolata examines the science of why it's so hard to lose weight and keep it off. The short version: once a body begins to lose weight, it switches into a kind of starvation mode. It wishes to hold onto the fat it has and tricks the person into thinking they're hungrier than they actually are. These two things combined make it an uphill battle. Kolata cites a University of Minnesota study in which normal sized men suddenly ate half their usual calories. They lost weight, but soon began behaving bizarrely. They became obsessed with eating, consuming up to five times their usual amount of food. Others showed strange mood swings. This goes a long way in explaining why the weight comes back for those who have the obesity gene.

This book highlights studies that many people ignore. For instance, an eight year, $20 million study done by researchers at Johns Hopkins which attempted to stave off the obesity crisis in children. The reserachers deliberately selected high risk schools, where children were getting two meals a day. The program adjusted the fat content in food the children were being served (by about 10%), introduced more daily exercise, and educated the children about nutrition. These measures were not enough to lead to any weight loss.

Anyone who has ever lost weight knows why: it takes a lot of effort to lose even a little bit of weight. Light exercise does very little (although it may have other health benefits) and hunger is a very difficult thing to ignore. Kolata pushes for a more tolerant society, that accepts that weight loss is very difficult to maintain, and asks for an end to the inaccurate idea that weight loss is totally within everyone's control. Genetics are different, she concludes, and some people will have an easier time losing weight than others.

There really is no reason why these findings need be controversial. And, yet, they will be. The same day I finished the book, two national magazines came out with cover stories about women losing over 100 lbs each. These types of pieces are very popular -- profiles of shiny happy weight loss success stories. The fact that most of these people will put the weight back on is never addressed. The fact that they are starving and miserable is glossed over in comments like "nothing tastes as good as it feels to be thin." Everyone loves a luck and pluck success story.

This is why "Rethinking Thin" is so important. Instead of putting a shiny gloss on hard facts, it gets to the bottom of things. It doesn't address every facet of this issue (it badly lacks a chapter on those rare successes at weight loss) but I highly recommend it. Definitely one of the best books I've read this year.

73 of 78 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating Reading, May 21, 2007

By 

CMCM (Nevada City, CA USA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Rethinking Thin: The New Science of Weight Loss--and the Myths and Realities of Dieting (Hardcover)

I actually found this book extremely good reading, and couldn't put it down! It's not that Kolata presents anything earth shatteringly new, but she does a great job of compiling a lot of fascinating information about studies and attitudes that most of us would probably never get a chance to read through our usual casual reading. Kolata has done a LOT of research here and it's a great read!

We have been led to believe that obesity is a relatively recent development in U.S. society, but this apparently is not the case. The stories of weight loss strategies and weight attitudes from even 100+ years ago are fascinating to read about. Discussion of our past attitudes about what is fat and what is a desirable weight shows that these attitudes have changed substantially through the years: for example, flappers of the 20's, who most of us vaguely recall to have been quite thin, would actually be considered overweight by today's extreme standards. The "Gibson Girl" ideal of the early 1900's would be considered absolutely obsese today.

Studies and experiments which have been done to figure out the "why" of overweight show that everything is still not well understood about weight gain, obesity, and weight loss. There are still more questions to be asked and not yet enough answers, and to complicate things each person is unique in physiology. Genetics is thought to play a strong role, and studies of twins and adopted children reveal the genetic component plays a strong role in your weight and how easily you can gain or lose excess weight.

Don't read this book expecting to find some new weight loss miracle. There are no real solutions in this book, but rather, it can give you a more realistic and educated understanding of what you are up against in the weight loss wars. Being realistic is half the game. As studies continue and knowledge increases, this book is necessarily "unfinished". But it gives you a good perspective at this point in time. The information presented will be viewed by some as discouraging, especially those who are searching for a quick and sure-fire weight loss plan. This book makes it fairly obvious that may never happen. And one good thing you realize after reading this is the extent to which we are all manipulated by those who profit from the weight loss industry. You come away from this book with a "buyer beware" attitude which will serve you well in not being duped into yet another weight loss product that doesn't work.

121 of 153 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A Disappointment, May 18, 2007

By 

Werner Cohn (Brooklyn, NY USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Rethinking Thin: The New Science of Weight Loss--and the Myths and Realities of Dieting (Hardcover)

The book has been a tremendous disappointment to me.

I read an article by Kolata in the New York Times a few days ago that was based on this book. I thought that the article was excellent, stressing the heritability component in obesity, and pointing to the failures of weight-control diets. I rushed to get the book, fully expecting fuller, more satisfactory explanations -- a truly book-length treatment of this important subject.

But the book here is actually no more than an article that has been heavily padded with cutesy anecdotes so as to achieve the physical corpulence of a book.

There are interesting (but not original) descriptions of diet fads throughout the ages. There are interesting (but depressingly familiar) accounts of failures of diets. There is an interesting account of animal studies on obesity. There are interesting accounts of twin studies that point to high heritability of obesity. And then there is endless prose that over-interprets all this: to wit, obesity is inherited, nothing can be done about it.

There is also an instance of gross malpractice of journalism. In the introduction, Kolata tells us that her book is the story of a high-science, two year long, carefully planned study of diets: Atkins versus LEARN. In chapter after boring chapter she gives us personality sketches of some of the participants and trivia about the progress of the study over the two year period. Then, at the end, while we wait for her to tell us the outcome, she tells us that, well, no, she can't say. The scientists haven't had the time to write up the results. Come on, Ms. K., if you don't know the outcome you shouldn't have bothered us with all that chatter about the wall color in the research room or what the weather was like on the first day of the study.

Journalistic malpractice isn't the worst thing about this book. The worst thing is that the author hasn't engaged with the intellectual problem that she posits. Her overall point is that obesity has very high heritability, i.e. that it is overwhelmingly determined by genetic factors. But then she also reports, as if this had nothing to do with her thesis, that numerous studies have shown that obesity is also strongly influenced by social class, the lower classes having higher rates. Now if that is true, what is the relationship to the high heritability ? Is lower class membership equally determined by genetic heritage ? Is it the same gene, or group of genes ? What, in other words, is the relationship between the claimed heritability of obesity and its correlation with class ? It doesn't seem to have occurred to Ms. K. to worry about such questions.