Jinn of Quality and Risk

TCS: over the past twenty years, [US] teenagers have, on average, increased their caloric intake by one percent. During that same time period, the percentage of teenagers who said they engaged in some sort of physical activity for thirty minutes a day dropped from 42 percent to 29 percent. Not surprisingly, teenage obesity over the twenty year period increased by 10 percent. The logical conclusion is that it isn't junk food that's making teenagers fat - it's their lack of activity. Interesting data. Probably a combination of the two causes: eating a little more, and exercising a lot less. One problem in the US is that physical activities are always tied to the public school. When I grew up in Switzerland, my friends and I engaged in multiple sports totally apart from and in addition to regularly scheduled "physical education" at school. We also used to walk a lot, rather than using the car. While I'm on topic, I dislike the excessively (maybe obsessively) huge portions served in American restaurants — it's always too much!