GiGi Sheppard
Professor Dabous
English Comp 100, Section 03
09 August 2011
Refutation Final

Gimme a Break, TV is Not Making us Obese, Food Is There is a problem with obesity in this country, the good ol’ U. S. of A. There are many causes that effect obesity. According to the The Center for Disease Control and The National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute report the actual causes of obesity are environment, lack of energy, emotions, pregnancy, age, genetics, drugs and disease. Although there may be a correlation to the amount of time spent watching TV to obesity, it is not causation.
Dr. Robert J Hancox of the University of Otago in Dunedin, New Zealand, bewitched his followers with the article “TV Causes Obesity”. In the article Hancox wrote for concerned parents, he recalls a study done on 1,000 children, ages five to fifteen in New Zealand. The researchers calculated body mass index (BMI) and watching television habits. When the children blossomed into adulthood, it was alleged that out of the children who were considered TV watching coach potatoes at the time of the original study, although the percentage of couch potatoes was not defined, he stated that, 41% of they were obese at age 26. According to the article “the research speculated that the amount of time spent watching TV was closely related to how much they ate and therefore the obesity.” (paragraph 1) TV causes obesity? Psych. What Dr. Hancox did not mention are the real factors that cause obesity. How many children had environmental factors or diseases that affected their weight? Did any of them visit the ER with a broken leg weeks before that may have caused them to tip the scale at the time of weigh-in? Were there family ties that made them to be a little tubby? What about the positive reality shows that feature weight loss competitions that actually encourage viewers to practice healthier lifestyles?
Regardless of what’s happening now with technology, television hasn’t advanced enough to make a 3D, high-definition 3000 calorie Whopper edible. TVs have no caloric value and watching TV actually burns calories. Ok, it only burns little more calories than sleeping, but how can something that burns calories, cause obesity? (American Cancer Society) No matter how much you spent on it, a hot dog from Sonic will not shoot out of your blue-ray player.
If there are more skate parks in Springfield than in Metropolis, then chances are the kids in Springfield are better fit because their environment plays a part in a lack of exercise. You may ask yourself “will all my children be obese?” Genetics plays a huge part in your