"The Miriam Hospital's Weight Control and Diabetes Research Center (WCDRC) recently received six research grants from the National Institutes of Health - totaling more than $12 million in funding - that will support the work of researchers focused on the prevention and treatment of obesity...Let's do the math.
The largest grant - nearly $6 million over five years - was awarded by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI) to compare two behavioral interventions to prevent weight gain in young adults. According to Wing, young adults experience the greatest rate of weight gain - approximately one to two pounds per year - putting them at increased risk for weight-related health problems, such as heart disease."
Assuming they are correct (they ought to be since we we're spending more than $12 million on them), "the greatest rate of weight gain - approximately one to two pounds per year" translates into an added 3500 to 7000 Calories onto the body. (assuming all of it is fat)
This is the equivalent of overeating between 9.6 and 19.2 Calories per day. (there are 365.25 days in a year)
These numbers are about the same as the number of Calories in between 1/2 and 1.0 teaspoons of sugar.
That we are paying $12 million and taking 5 years "to compare two behavioral interventions to prevent weight gain in young adults" by getting them to cut back about 10 - 20 Calories per day is insane.
Just for fun, that means that we are spending between $326, 087 and 652,174 per Calorie to do research on how to convince people not to overconsume between 9.6 and 19.2 Calories per day.
This doesn't even include the resulting campaign to develop and implement the sure to be crappy doomed to fail interventions.
Of course, they are comparing "TWO behavioral interventions" for the money.
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