Fat fortune for Diet Town, USA

[T_i_B]

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,6903,1539669,00.html

At first, the Structure House clinic looks like any boutique spa. The landscaped grounds host a swimming pool and a gym. Tinkling piped music seeps into the rooms of an elegant mansion house at its heart. But one thing stands out: the size of the guests. People coming here are not on holiday. They are coming to lose weight - lots of weight.

They have picked the right town. Durham has become the weight-loss capital of America, hailed in one newspaper article as a 'Lourdes for the obese'.

As Americans' waistlines have expanded remorselessly, so have the treatments aimed at fighting the flab - and nowhere has benefited as much as Durham. The former down-at-heel North Carolina tobacco town attracts 4,000 to 8,000 people each year from all over the US to the residential weight-loss clinics that dot the city and its suburbs. 'Durham has become a mecca for weight loss,' said Dr Gerard Musante, founder of Structure House 'Nothing else exists like this. All roads lead to Durham.'

It not a cheap road, though. Structure House charges thousands of dollars for a four-week residential stay. The nearby Duke Diet and Fitness Centre asks up to $7,000 a month. But many Americans are willing to pay, some patients even taking out loans or selling their cars to afford the trip. Structure House alone has so far treated 30,000 people from all 50 American states and 35 foreign countries.

[Deja Q]

1. It'd be cheaper not to buy so many potato chips and happy meals...

Moderation, willpower, and exercise.

No need to spend ludicrous amounts of money for a pipe dream.

[pitohui]

2. if moderation, willpower, exercise worked

twould be no fat people

[mcscajun]

3. Quite so. Plus...The Guardian's a little late on the story.

Durham has been the "diet capital" for a few decades now, as well-informed fat folks already know. :)

[supernova]

4. That's the truth, people like Buddy Hackett and Dom DeLouise

were coming here in the 70s.

Here's a little history on the Rice Diet, that started it all.

http://www.ricedietprogram.com/index.php

edit: But It is nice that the rest of the world is catching on. ;-)

[pitohui]

5. i remember the rice diet

good times

[supernova]

6. Have you ever tried it?

I've never been on the Rice Diet, but I can see how it would be helpful.

[roseBudd]

7. High fructose corn suyrup fosters fat creation

Fructose fosters fat creation
UC mouse study looks at soda-pop sweetener

By Tim Bonfield
Enquirer staff writer


a study of mice issued Friday indicates that fructose - a corn-based sweetener commonly used in soda - does more than just add calories to a diet. It may play a role in making the body create fat.

The study was conducted by researchers at the University of Cincinnati, and co-authored by researchers in Germany and California. It was published in the July issue of Obesity Research, a specialty medical journal.

Researchers allowed mice to freely consume water, fructose-sweetened water or fructose-sweetened soft drinks. The mice that drank the fructose-sweetened drinks tended to eat less solid food, so the overall calorie consumption was not widely different among the groups. Still, the mice that consumed fructose wound up with as much as 90 percent more body fat than the water-only drinkers.

This means that fructose appears to affect metabolic rate in a way that favors fat storage, said study author Dr. Matthias Tschöp, a member of the Obesity Research Center at UC's Genome Research Institute.

more:
http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050730/NEWS01/507300380

Mexican soda is still made with sucrose and reportedly tastes better.

[mcscajun]

8. Nice to see someone else bringing this up...

...I'm not the only one to beat the High Fructose Corn Syrup drum. :)

If it hadn't been for overproduction and agribusiness subsidies, there'd have been no huge surplus of corn to have to figure out a use for...hence, no switch from Sucrose to HFCS.

It's no coincidence that obesity rates climbed from the years of its introduction.