Are Sedentary Jobs Behind Our Obesity Epidemic?

Why are Americans so fat? Poor eating habits get lots of blame, but two new studies have identified another possible culprit.

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By CBS/AP

Story Created: May 27, 2011 at 2:33 PM AKDT

Story Updated: May 27, 2011 at 2:33 PM AKDT

(CBS) Why are Americans so fat? Poor eating habits get lots of blame, but two new studies have identified another possible culprit.

Our sedentary jobs.

Only 6.5 percent of adults meet guidelines for physical activity while at work, according to one of the studies, published in the May 27 issue of Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. That study was echoed by another showing that only 20 percent of Americans have jobs that require moderate physical activity, down from 50 percent in 1960. 

The authors of the second study, which was published in the May 25 issue of the journal PLoS ONE, estimate that today's cubicle-dwellers burn 140 fewer calories at work each day than our clock-punching counterparts did a half-century ago.

But if Americans aren't working up a sweat sitting at our work computers, we seem to have no trouble working up an appetite.

From vending machines down the corridor to fast food down the block, "We have opportunities to eat all day, and we're doing it," Dr. Barbara Rolls, professor of nutritional sciences at Pennsylvania State University, told USA today.

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chickenlegs said on Monday, May 30 at 9:06 AM

thank you gary! there are people of every size at most jobs. i was an alaska va volunteer for almost 7 years and omigosh what a range of sizes there are. x-small to xxxxxL. it is our food attitudes, our food choices and serving sizes, our exercise level, plus how each person's body processes the food that makes the difference. a person's job can make a difference, but i've seen plus sized sports caoaches and i've also seen normal sized office workers and truck drivers.

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Gary said on Friday, May 27 at 3:27 PM

Our country is fat because of its overall mentality about everything. Not JUST because we sit on our butts. Our culture nurtures laziness and entitlement. If we DO work out we only do it much of the time if it's "fun" or if our friends join in. I watched part of Biggest Loser the other night and saw people that lost the equivalent of another person. Then they stand there and cry while people cheer for them and talk about how hard it was. They want praise for losing what they should never have gained in the first place! What a monument to excess and self pity we've become.

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