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  My Slate article

  Hi, Daniel Engber here.

  A couple of quick thoughts.  I know what heritability means, and in my piece I state outright that our environment can make us fatter. Even if we're talking just about variation, to say that obesity is 80% heritable leaves 20% to other causes.  I didn't mean to imply otherwise.

  Even if the mean body weight has shifted by a few pounds over the last few decades, it's still true that in a given population (in America or on board the Axiom), genetics will have a significant effect on where people end up on in the normal distribution of body weights.  That's why it's wrong to use fatter people as metaphor for widespread social problems... We're all pushing the mean together.

  As for the Pollan book, thanks for the offer, but I've read it (and written about it) already and I'm not sure how it addresses any of my points.  

  In the meantime, I've addressed a few of the criticisms of my article here:

  http://fray.slate.com/discuss/forums/thread/1494387.aspx? ...
  On The link between obesity and the environment posted 1 year, 3 months ago 16 Responses