Evolutionary Biology Professor Daniel Lieberman zeroed in on the problem at the core of many diseases: runaway obesity. By 2015, he said, there will be 3 billion obese adults, largely because we have evolved over a relatively short period of industrialization to crave sugar, fat, and salt.
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Lieberman, who chairs the Human Evolutionary Biology Department, said the cascading effects on human health and medical costs are so catastrophic that government should require exercise just as it mandates vaccinations and other public health measures. . . . ‘Instead of thinking big, maybe we should think small and require physical education again,’ Lieberman said to hearty applause. (Judy Rakowsky, Harvard Gazette, February 10, 2012)
“Evolved” to crave sugar, fat, and salt? And over a short period of time?
It’s a problem, all right. But how can a government “mandate” exercise? There would need to be more civil servants than people. Even a jobs creation program can’t really create that many jobs, surely?