Drinks industry slams sugar policy
Is Diabetes Regressive when compared to a tax on unhealthy high calorie drinks?
Saturday, 30 May 2015
Tesco bans sweets from checkouts in all stores | Business | The Guardian
Tesco bans sweets from checkouts in all stores | Business | The Guardian
"The UK's largest retailer, Tesco, is to ban sweets and chocolates from its checkouts after a survey of customers showed overwhelming support for the move.
Research for Tesco found that 65% of shoppers wanted confectionery
removed from checkouts to help them make healthier choices when
shopping. Even more (67%) said it would help them choose healthier
options for their children."
"The UK's largest retailer, Tesco, is to ban sweets and chocolates from its checkouts after a survey of customers showed overwhelming support for the move.
Research for Tesco found that 65% of shoppers wanted confectionery
removed from checkouts to help them make healthier choices when
shopping. Even more (67%) said it would help them choose healthier
options for their children."
Friday, 29 May 2015
Soda taxes bubbling up all over | Grist
Soda taxes bubbling up all over | Grist
" Lawmakers around the country have been talking about taxing
sugar-sweetened drinks after Berkeley, Calif., passed a soda tax last
year. Politicians have legislation in the works in Connecticut,
Illinois, Vermont, and Hawaii. It’s hard to tell if those bills are
making their way through these statehouses, or just languishing there.
In Illinois, at least, there’s some renewed buzz about the bill. "
" Lawmakers around the country have been talking about taxing
sugar-sweetened drinks after Berkeley, Calif., passed a soda tax last
year. Politicians have legislation in the works in Connecticut,
Illinois, Vermont, and Hawaii. It’s hard to tell if those bills are
making their way through these statehouses, or just languishing there.
In Illinois, at least, there’s some renewed buzz about the bill. "
Davis ordinance seeks middle ground in sugary beverage debate | The Sacramento Bee
Davis ordinance seeks middle ground in sugary beverage debate | The Sacramento Bee
"
Do you want water or milk with that?
Servers at Davis city
restaurants will soon be asking that question to customers ordering
kids’ meals with beverages, under a new ordinance designed to discourage
sugary soda consumption.
The ordinance, passed on a unanimous 5-0 vote Tuesday night,
will require any Davis restaurant that offers a meal-with-drink kids’
menu to make water or milk, not soda, the primary option. Parents can
still request soda at no extra charge, but must specifically ask for it.
"
"
Do you want water or milk with that?
Servers at Davis city
restaurants will soon be asking that question to customers ordering
kids’ meals with beverages, under a new ordinance designed to discourage
sugary soda consumption.
The ordinance, passed on a unanimous 5-0 vote Tuesday night,
will require any Davis restaurant that offers a meal-with-drink kids’
menu to make water or milk, not soda, the primary option. Parents can
still request soda at no extra charge, but must specifically ask for it.
"
Unhealthy foods should be eliminated from schools, says WHO report | Down To Earth
Unhealthy foods should be eliminated from schools, says WHO report | Down To Earth
Unhealthy foods should be eliminated from schools, says WHO report
Unhealthy foods should be eliminated from schools, says WHO report
Special Report: The war on big food - Fortune
Special Report: The war on big food - Fortune
Major
Major
packaged-food companies lost $4 billion in market share alone last
year, as shoppers swerved to fresh and organic alternatives. Can the
supermarket giants win you back?
Monday, 25 May 2015
Students rally outside of McDougall Centre in Calgary to ban menthol cigarettes | Metro
Students rally outside of McDougall Centre in Calgary to ban menthol cigarettes | Metro
Canada does not play with Tobacco , but it does play with the factors related to health equity and the food environment. Paul M
Canada does not play with Tobacco , but it does play with the factors related to health equity and the food environment. Paul M
What's a Food Industry to Do? Dr Yoni Freedhoff
Published on Dec 10, 2012
I'd
been asked by the food industry to give this talk at an industry
breakfast, but 3 days prior to the event they got cold feet and
dis-invited me. The good news is, the internet's a much larger audience
than a room full of food industry folks who likely wouldn't have cared
much about what I had to say in the first place. So here's my take on
what the food industry can do, why they're not going to do it, and what
we can do about it.
Saturday, 23 May 2015
Directly measured physical activity of children and youth, 2012 and 2013
http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/82-625-x/2015001/article/14136-eng.htm
Directly measured physical activity of children and youth, 2012 and 2013
Regular physical activity and limited sedentary time for children and youth contribute independently to improvements in cholesterol levels, blood pressure, body composition, bone density, cardiorespiratory and musculoskeletal fitness, academic achievement, self-esteem as well as other aspects of mental health.Note 1,Note 2
Physical activity in school-aged children and youth
The majority of school-aged children and youth are not getting enough physical activity to meet the current Canadian Physical Activity Guidelines. In school-aged children and youth between the ages of 5 and 17, 13% of boys and 6% of girls were getting an average of at least 60 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity daily as recommended in the guidelines (Chart 1). Girls aged 12 to 17 were least likely to get the recommended amount of activity (3%), whereas boys aged 5 to 11 were most likely to meet the guidelines for moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (18%).
Children and youth spend the majority of their time being sedentary. Children and youth aged 5 to 17 spent an average of 8 hours and 27 minutes, or nearly two-thirds of their waking hours, being sedentary each day (Chart 2).
Overall, youth aged 12 to 17 were significantly more sedentary and significantly less active than their 5- to 11-year-old counterparts. Youth were sedentary 9 hours and 16 minutes and engaged in 50 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity compared to children who were sedentary for 7 hours and 38 minutes and engaged in 67 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (Chart 2). Furthermore, although the vast majority of 5- to 11-year-olds did not meet the physical activity guidelines, 39% achieved an average of at least 30 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity daily (Chart 3). In 12- to 17-year-olds, 18% achieved an average of at least 30 minutes.
The number of steps taken per day is another way to assess daily physical activity levels—children are recommended to take at least 12,000 steps per day. Again, the majority of children and youth are not taking enough. The proportion meeting the recommended 12,000 steps per day was 10% of boys and 6% of girls aged 5 to 17 (data not shown). Girls aged 12 to 17 were least likely to get 12,000 steps (3%), and boys aged 5 to 11 were most likely to get enough steps (14%) (data not shown).
Physical activity levels did not differ significantly by body mass index (BMI) for youth aged 12 to 17 (data not shown). For children aged 5 to 11 years, the proportion meeting the physical activity guidelines was significantly higher among those who were normal weight (15%) compared to those who were overweight or obese (10%) (data not shown).
Physical activity in pre-school aged children
Pre-school children aged 3 to 4 years accumulated 4 hours and 43 minutes of light or moderate-to-vigorous physical activity daily (Chart 2), and were sedentary 7 hours and 28 minutes of waking time. A large proportion of pre-school aged children (70%) had at least 180 minutes of total physical activity (light or moderate-to-vigorous intensity) daily (data not shown), which is in line with the Canadian Physical Activity Guidelines. While the majority of physical activity in this age group was of light intensity (Chart 2), 44% were getting at least 30 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity most days of the week (Chart 3). About 19% of 3- to 4-year-olds had at least 60 minutes of MVPA daily, which (as described above) is the recommended daily physical activity for older children and youth.Physical activity levels did not differ significantly by body mass index for younger children 3 to 4 years (data not shown).
Start of text box
About physical activity
The Canadian Physical Activity Guidelines recommend that children and youth aged 5 to 17 accumulate at least 60 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous intensity aerobic physical activity (MVPA) per day in order to achieve health benefits.Note 1 This can be accomplished through bike riding, playground activities, running, swimming, etc.Note 1 The Canadian Physical Activity Guidelines also recommend that children aged 3 to 4 should accumulate at least 180 minutes of physical activity at any intensity throughout the day, with the target of progressing towards at least 60 minutes of MVPA per day by 5 years of age.The activity monitor was worn on an elasticized belt over the right hip. An activity monitor measures the acceleration of movement, recording it as a count per minute (cpm) value. The cpm values provide information on the amount of time spent being sedentary, in light activity, and in moderate-to-vigorous physical activity. The activity monitor also captures step counts per day, which is another measure that can be used to assess physical activity levels in children and youth.Note 3
End of text box
Notes
References
Canadian Society for Exercise Physiology. Canadian Physical Activity Guidelines. Ottawa, ON. 2011. www.csep.ca/guidelines. (accessed: March 1, 2012).Colley R.C., Janssen I., Tremblay M.S. “Daily step target to measure adherence to physical activity guidelines in children.” Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise. 2012. Vol. 44, no. 5, p. 977 to 982.
de Onis, M., Onyango, A.W., Borghi, E., Siyam, A., Nishida, C., and J. Siekmann. 2007. “Development of a WHO growth reference for school-aged children and adolescents.” Bulletin of the World Health Organization Vol. 85, no. 9.
Janssen I., Leblanc A. “A systematic review of the health benefits of physical activity and fitness in school-aged children and youth.” International Journal of Behaviour, Nutrition and Physical Activity. 2010; Vol. 7, no. 40.
Tremblay M.S., Allana A.G., Janssen I., Kho M.E., Hicks A., Murumets K., Colley R.C., Duggan M. “Canadian Sedentary Behaviour Guidelines for Children and Youth.” Applied Physiology, Nutrition, and Metabolism. 2011. Vol. 36, p. 59 to 64.
- Date modified:
Friday, 22 May 2015
Who banned my soda pop? - The Globe and Mail
Who banned my soda pop? - The Globe and Mail
" Soda pop is the new tobacco. First banned in some school boards, soda
pop and other sugar-laden drinks are now being legislated away by
different levels of government in the next wave of social engineering
programs. But if the state starts by substituting soya milk for Gatorade
at your local arena, will it end with them telling you, you can't buy
Pizza Pops? "
This article was crafted in 2010 and in Canada not much has changed . Media and special interest agents have done an amazing job focusing our attention on Inactivity , Sitting Disease and very little talk with regard to actual prevention. I must say thanks the the United States Military because they have played an active role in discussing obesity. The number one reason recruits continue to fail basic training is due to obesity. Hashtag #TooFatToFight on Twitter.Paul Murphy
" Soda pop is the new tobacco. First banned in some school boards, soda
pop and other sugar-laden drinks are now being legislated away by
different levels of government in the next wave of social engineering
programs. But if the state starts by substituting soya milk for Gatorade
at your local arena, will it end with them telling you, you can't buy
Pizza Pops? "
This article was crafted in 2010 and in Canada not much has changed . Media and special interest agents have done an amazing job focusing our attention on Inactivity , Sitting Disease and very little talk with regard to actual prevention. I must say thanks the the United States Military because they have played an active role in discussing obesity. The number one reason recruits continue to fail basic training is due to obesity. Hashtag #TooFatToFight on Twitter.Paul Murphy
'Leanwashing' marketing tactic used to drive junk-food sales | CBCNews.ca Mobile
'Leanwashing' marketing tactic used to drive junk-food sales | CBCNews.ca Mobile
"An international team of university researchers,
including from Simon Fraser in Vancouver, coined the term
leanwashing last year. It was in response to a trend in advertising that
links eating junk food with increasing physical activity.
In 2010, Michelle Obama launched a campaign called Let’s Move to end childhood obesity. "
"An international team of university researchers,
including from Simon Fraser in Vancouver, coined the term
leanwashing last year. It was in response to a trend in advertising that
links eating junk food with increasing physical activity.
In 2010, Michelle Obama launched a campaign called Let’s Move to end childhood obesity. "
Thursday, 21 May 2015
Kids With High BPA Levels Have A Greater Risk Of Obesity
Kids With High BPA Levels Have A Greater Risk Of Obesity
Special thanks to Health Blog from Twitter . https://twitter.com/AHealthBlog
https://twitter.com/AHealthBlog
Special thanks to Health Blog from Twitter . https://twitter.com/AHealthBlog
https://twitter.com/AHealthBlog
Curbing global sugar consumption | World Cancer Research Fund
Curbing global sugar consumption | World Cancer Research Fund
Canada just gave 4.5 Million $$$ to conduct research on Weight Loss Surgery. I am pretty dumb when it comes to this type of surgery so I need to ask a question. How does one Not lose weight when the body environment is altered? How does this reflect on Prevention ? Paul Murphy
Just a few Ideas from the article :
Canada just gave 4.5 Million $$$ to conduct research on Weight Loss Surgery. I am pretty dumb when it comes to this type of surgery so I need to ask a question. How does one Not lose weight when the body environment is altered? How does this reflect on Prevention ? Paul Murphy
Just a few Ideas from the article :
- school nutrition standards in Queensland, Australia
- a vending machine ban in France
- a front-of-package symbol that led to product reformulation
- soda taxes in France and Mexico
- a programme targeting retail environments in New York City, USA
- a programme promoting increased water consumption in schools in Hungary
- school fruit and vegetable programmes in Netherlands and Norway
- a healthy marketing campaign in Los Angeles County, USA
- a comprehensive nutrition and health programme in France
Wednesday, 20 May 2015
How Mexico is fighting obesity | Marketplace.org
How Mexico is fighting obesity | Marketplace.org
Thank you Mexico and Berkeley California for Inspiring a model that is linked to prevention.
Thank you Mexico and Berkeley California for Inspiring a model that is linked to prevention.
Olivier De Schutter of United Nations Wants Junk Food Regulations
Olivier De Schutter of United Nations Wants Junk Food Regulations
"U.N. Special
"U.N. Special
Rapporteur on the right to food Olivier De Schutter warned that obesity
is a bigger global health threat than tobacco use, lamenting that it
isn't taken as seriously as it should be
A United Nations official called for greater regulation of unhealthy foods on Monday, saying junk food is just as bad for global health as tobacco."
My concerns lie on the stigma , blame and abuse the obese child recieves. The food environment has a role to play in the obesity crisis and any discussion surrounding taxing junk food helps to lower stigma. Paul M
Tuesday, 19 May 2015
Mexico enacts soda tax in effort to combat world's highest obesity rate | World news | The Guardian
Mexico enacts soda tax in effort to combat world's highest obesity rate | World news | The Guardian
Mexico striving to address the health and wellbeing of the Mexican Nation. I have one word. Bravo !
Mexico striving to address the health and wellbeing of the Mexican Nation. I have one word. Bravo !
http://www.foxnews.com/health/2015/05/18/obesity-disparity-grew-among-us-kindergarteners/
http://www.foxnews.com/health/2015/05/18/obesity-disparity-grew-among-us-kindergarteners/
Is Canada ready to address the food environment ? At some point the Inactivity Crisis will require an intervention. An intervention like the Tobacco Model ?
Is Canada ready to address the food environment ? At some point the Inactivity Crisis will require an intervention. An intervention like the Tobacco Model ?
Berkeley soda tax raises $116,000 of revenue in first month | Berkeleyside
Berkeley soda tax raises $116,000 of revenue in first month | Berkeleyside
Berkeley and Mexico continue to take Action with regard to Public Health. Bravo ! Thank You ! Be Inspired !
Berkeley and Mexico continue to take Action with regard to Public Health. Bravo ! Thank You ! Be Inspired !
Can Mexico Fight Obesity ?
If you want to see and witness legislative action to address Health and Health Equity just explore how Canada has taken on Tobacco. Despite countless reports and warnings Canada refuses to use Tobacco Tactics to address Diabetes and JunkFood consumption. They have funded reasearch on weight Loss Surgery. Paul Murphy
This
report originally aired on February 16, 2014.
MARTIN
FLETCHER: Every Sunday in
Mexico City tens of thousands answer their president’s challenge: to exercise
one hour a day. Mexico’s health ministry says its citizens are too fat.
Yoga
class along the city’s main Reforma Avenue. Nearby, Zumba. Five straight hours
of Latin American dance and aerobics. All overseen by Horacio de la Vega,
a Mexican pentathlete in two Olympics.
You see
that 30 percent of people in Mexico are obese and 70percent are
overweight.
HORACIO
DE LA VEGA, MEXICO CITY INSTITUTE OF SPORT: Yes.
MARTIN
FLETCHER: And
you’re an Olympic athlete. How do you feel about that?
HORACIO
DE LA VEGA: It’s
a very important problem. It’s sad that we actually came to this point. It’s
painful, but it has a lot to do with education, with the culture, and we’re
trying to make a lot of efforts to make this revert.
MARTIN
FLETCHER: We
met Diana Cardona at the Zumba dance. At barely five feet, this thirty year old
mother has struggled with her weight her whole life. Zumba has helped her lose
20 pounds — she’s hoping to lose 20 more. The Zumba class is certainly
hard to resist — a catchy part of what Mexico calls its three pillars to fight
obesity.
So this
is the pillar number one: more exercise for the people. I think I’ve lost a
little bit of weight. Maybe.
After
more sport comes number two: a healthier diet. But it’s pillar number three
that has the whole world watching.
Taxation
of junk food. With one and a half billion people overweight around the globe,
Mexico’s battle of the bulge has become a test case in the fight against
obesity. The new taxes are: eight per cent on food high in saturated fat, sugar
and salt, like sweet breads and cakes. About nine per cent on sugary
drinks like cola.
LUIS
VIDEGARAY, SECRETARY OF FINANCE AND PUBLIC CREDIT, MEXICO: We’re doing a lot of
education programs, health programs to change the habits of people, but we are
also using incentives, and taxes can be powerful incentives. I’m an economist,
so I believe in incentives, and I think this should have an effect on how
people select what to drink and what to eat.
MARTIN
FLETCHER: Commercials
pound the message: exercise and eat healthy, every day, similar to the New York
anti-obesity message of former Mayor Michael Bloomberg. And that’s no
coincidence. Bloomberg’s philanthropic organization has pledged $10 million
dollars to help finance Mexico’s anti-obesity campaign.
Jorge
Romo, chief lawyer for Mexico’s beverage industry association, says that since
the taxes were introduced January the first this year, consumption is already
down five per cent — but he believes it will go up again.
JORGE
ROMO, MEXICAN NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF SOFT DRINKS AND CARBONATED WATER: We are not convinced that
by putting a new tax for soft drinks, in addition to other taxes that they
already pay, it’s going to be a solution. And the reason is that it’s an old
customs — custom in Mexico to drink soft drinks.
MARTIN
FLETCHER: But
that’s exactly the point, isn’t it? To reduce the consumption of sugar because
sugar leads to obesity.
JORGE
ROMO: Yes,
but if you taxed only the drinks which are bottled, then why not the other
ones? There is an unequitable situation. And in talking of equity, that’s a
main reason that the tax might be unconstitutional, because you cannot tax some
product and the other ones not.
MARTIN
FLETCHER: What
Romo’s getting at: the new tax only levies extra pesos on bottled or canned
soft drinks and packaged snacks, not the fatty foods and drinks sold on the
street.
Still
Mexicans drink more Coca Cola products per capita than anyone else in the
world. Visiting a mobile health clinic, Maria Castillo has had hypertension for
23 years and diabetes for five.
How much
Coca Cola do you drink every day?
For the
family, three liters she says.
Three
liters a day? Three liters of Coca Cola, so it’s one liter a day each person
more or less?
She says,
yes it’s bad. And tortilla and bread. That’s what makes us fat.
Mexico’s
Coca Cola franchise declined our interview request. But industry lawyer Romo —
who represents Coke among other brands — says the soft drink companies aren’t
the only culprits in the obesity crisis.
But it’s the
amount of sugar — there is so much sugar in these drinks.
JORGE
ROMO: Maybe
it is the amount of sugar, but if it is the only energy they consume, they eat
or they drink, so no problem. And if they exercise no problem at all. It’s very
expensive to buy fruit, to buy vegetables, so they only eating fried food.
MARTIN
FLETCHER: With
fifty percent of Mexicans living below the poverty line, cost is critical.
Doesn’t
it just make it more expensive for the people who can’t afford to buy anything
else?
LUIS VIDEGARAY,
SECRETARY OF FINANCE AND PUBLIC CREDIT, MEXICO: But there are alternatives.
The taxes — the taxes are only taxing high calorie foods and sugary drinks.
There are other foods and other drinks available that are not being taxed, and
we want exactly that shift in consumption patterns.
MARTIN
FLETCHER: Perhaps
easier said than done, especially in a country where even locals shy away from
the tap water, often leaving bottled drinks as the only option.
Back at
home, Diana from Zumba class has changed her eating habits over the past year.
The children eat rice, tomatoes, peas, tortilla, and guacamole. A year ago it
was fries, takeaway pizzas, hamburgers, cans of cola. If she hadn’t gone on the
diet, she says, I’d be this big! And she feels better. Look at the badge behind
her.
‘Me
siento magnifico.’ That’s
Spanish for ‘I feel magnificent.’
DIANA
CARDONA: Whoo!
Si! Yes!
MARTIN
FLETCHER: It’s
too early to say what the effect of taxation will be as a tool against obesity.
Even its supporters say an increase of eight to ten percent is just not enough,
but the government argues it’s the message that counts. Healthy eating saves
lives.
In a
local initiative by Mexico City, for those who don’t go to the gym, the gym
comes to them. Three hundred so-called urban gyms were set up last year, three
hundred more will be opened this year, and the same again next year.
With
medical and psychological advice, and check-ups, all provided free by the city.
Prevention, the mayor says, is cheaper than treatment.
Maria
Gonzales is the city psychologist in charge of these urban gyms.
MARIA
GONZALES, MEXICO CITY GOVERNMENT: We want the people to be healthy.
MARTIN
FLETCHER: And
when you see the people come to you, are they healthy?
MARIA
GONZALES: Most
of them no. But they come here and they start wanting to have a better way of
living. A healthy life, a healthy style of living.
MARTIN
FLETCHER: The
biggest challenge is to start them young – all research shows that if a child
is overweight at age five, most always will be. Esperanza and Citlali are five
– they don’t know much about new taxes – but the government says higher taxes
on junk food will make families buy less – and their children will be
healthier, and live longer.
We are fat. So, what’s Ontario doing about it? | Toronto Star
We are fat. So, what’s Ontario doing about it? | Toronto Star
Ontario and Health Canada continue to fund research and Weight Loss Surgery. To me, it is like providing sex education to people that are 60 years old. It misses a key step known as ,Prevention. Ask yourself this. At what point will we witness efforts related to health and health equity prevention regarding our obese food environment. If you want to see action on prevention explore the tobacco issue.Paul Murphy
Ontario and Health Canada continue to fund research and Weight Loss Surgery. To me, it is like providing sex education to people that are 60 years old. It misses a key step known as ,Prevention. Ask yourself this. At what point will we witness efforts related to health and health equity prevention regarding our obese food environment. If you want to see action on prevention explore the tobacco issue.Paul Murphy
Monday, 18 May 2015
Target is making a big shift away from sugary cereals, canned foods and mac and cheese - The Washington Post
Target is making a big shift away from sugary cereals, canned foods and mac and cheese - The Washington Post
"This is a dramatic move for Target," said Koo. "And I think that all
retailers will soon be asking similar questions of these companies."
This may turn out to be a monumental shift in the food environment. Paul Murphy
Target is making a big shift away from sugary cereals, canned foods and mac and cheese
"This is a dramatic move for Target," said Koo. "And I think that all
retailers will soon be asking similar questions of these companies."
This may turn out to be a monumental shift in the food environment. Paul Murphy
Thursday, 14 May 2015
Robert Earl Hughes , obituary | Bremen Public Library | Community Heritage Online Database
Robert Earl Hughes , obituary | Bremen Public Library | Community Heritage Online Database
I wanted to put this together so as not to forget Mr Robert Earl Hughes.
I wanted to put this together so as not to forget Mr Robert Earl Hughes.
Remembering Robert Earl Hughes Youtube
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Remebering-Robert-Earl-Hughes/1453437911614105
Robert Earl Hughes Facebook Page.
Song about Robert Earl http://www.sideshowworld.com/81-SSPAlbumcover/Fat/Robert/Hughes.html
http://www.washingtontimesreporter.com/article/20080430/News/304309966/?Start=1
http://www.chicagomag.com/Chicago-Magazine/June-2001/Heavy/
Heavy
By the time he died at 32 in 1958, Robert Earl
Hughes of tiny Fishhook, Illinois, weighed more than 1,000 pounds, earning a
place in The Guinness Book of World Records as the largest man on earth. Except
for his neighbors and family, few people knew much about his life until
recently, when an astonishing photograph sent the author in search of Hughes’s
real story: Raised in a sharecropper’s cabin, trapped inside half a ton of
flesh, this literate, companionable young man had dreamed of seeing the world.
Aside from some carnival tours and one disastrous trip to New York, he never
lived his dream. But in his short life, he found something else.
By Robert
Kurson
Published
April 14, 2011
A few months ago, this magazine published photographs from the portfolio
of Robert Natkin, a local photographer who worked in the 1940s and 1950s.
Natkin trained his lens mostly on hardened city people and landscapes, and his
work resonated with the black-and-white urgency of an artist who believed he
was shooting stories, not subjects. My job was to write a short essay to
accompany his work. Most of the photos were slice-of-life Chicago: poor folk;
bathing beauties; a jailbird; factory workers. One photo, however, seemed misplaced,
as if it had wandered from a different collection and had settled into Natkin’s
book for the night. It showed a rail-thin young farmer playing checkers with a
very heavy man. I recognized the large man immediately. He was Robert Earl
Hughes, and I knew him from The Guinness Book of World Records. I
remembered his weight—1,041 pounds—and another odd detail that had lingered in
my memory since childhood: Hughes had been buried in a piano case.
There is
much to behold in the photo—piled rolls of flesh, a five-foot-wide chair,
tent-size overalls, brotherhood. I did not think to write about any of that. I
stared at the picture for much of the day, and when I considered how to
describe such a scene, one thought kept returning. I knew the heavy man was lonely.
* * *
My dad
was fat. At the time I was born, he stood 5 feet 11 and weighed 280 pounds.
Like many little boys, I worshiped my father. He was a traveling salesman, and
my first memory of him is from a business trip we took together when I was
four. We had stopped outside a steak house for dinner, and as his business
partner, he allowed me to help close the car trunk. I slammed my thumb in the
trunk lid and it began to swell. My dad took me inside the restaurant, using
his stomach to push past the long line of waiting customers until we reached
the bar, where he ordered a glass of Coke in which I could soak my finger. When
the ice melted, he ordered another Coke. At four, the world is a rush of
ominous faces, fantastic noises, and dangerous happenings. At four, my father’s
size struck me as the perfect protection against a place so large as the world.
I took
many more road trips with my dad (my job was to read the maps, watch the gas,
and tell my share of stories). Out across America, I noticed that people
treated him differently; they were nervous around him, anxious to get away from
him, and I remember thinking as the years and trips passed that a person could
get lonely being fat in America, that my father looked lonely in America. When
customers joked about his weight, I had to will myself not to blubber, even
though I was studying karate magazines and playing Little League baseball and
becoming a pretty tough young guy. In hotel restaurants, when my dad thought I
was still in the bathroom, I peeked around corners to watch him slathering
dinner rolls with whipped butter, even though he told me he never used butter,
it was too fattening. I remember that he didn’t look lonely when he ate those
buttered rolls.
I began
to look into the life of Robert Earl Hughes. I checked libraries, the Internet,
bookstores, magazines. Though his picture in the Guinness Book was familiar to
millions worldwide, little was known of him, save for his hometown (Fishhook,
Illinois) and the year he had died (1958). I started digging. The skinny man
playing checkers in the photo turned out to be Robert Earl’s brother, who was
alive and living on a small Missouri farm. I found his telephone number. Yes,
the brother told me, if I’d like to drive some 300 miles, I could ask about Robert
Earl—might even be a few other folks around who remembered him. I hadn’t been
on a road trip since my father died of a heart attack in 1995, but I collected
my maps and checked my gas, and set out to find Robert Earl Hughes.
* * *
Fishhook,
Illinois, is too tiny even for some mapmakers. Located about 300 miles
southwest of Chicago near the state’s westernmost tip, the town claims the same
general store, two churches, and one-room schoolhouse it did in the 1930s and
1940s, when the Hughes family called it home. Four of Fishhook’s 29 current residents
have agreed to meet me at the general store, where they remember the Hughes
family trading eggs and cream, socializing, and bringing their eldest son by
horse-drawn wagon to be weighed on the platform scale. First, however, they
recommend that I stop at the Pike County Historical Society in nearby Pittsfield
to view a collection of local newspaper clips.
The
historical society opens mostly by appointment in winter, and it is not heated.
One board member, a retired high school history teacher, says that if I can
stand the cold (most folks can’t) and want to read the miles of yellowed news
clippings spread across ancient wooden tables, I may avail myself of the life
of Robert Earl Hughes.
Three hours later and steeped in the outline of Hughes’s life, I arrive at the Fishhook general store. The four residents, including the widow of the long-time owner, have cleared a table in the back, where crinkle-cut snapshots of Robert Earl sit piled in a corner for my consideration. The store, they regret, is smaller than it was in its glory days in the 1940s and 1950s, when the town depended on it for meat, milk, shoes, feed, britches, and hammers; when the upstairs room hosted wedding receptions and lodge meetings; and when children paid 12 cents each to sit on benches and watch Gene Autry movies. For two hours, these people reach back into their lives to remember their friend Robert Earl, and by the time I leave for my hotel, the giant man from the Guinness Book has stepped from the gallery of freaks and oddities frozen with him on those pages, and ambled forward as a living, breathing human being.
Three hours later and steeped in the outline of Hughes’s life, I arrive at the Fishhook general store. The four residents, including the widow of the long-time owner, have cleared a table in the back, where crinkle-cut snapshots of Robert Earl sit piled in a corner for my consideration. The store, they regret, is smaller than it was in its glory days in the 1940s and 1950s, when the town depended on it for meat, milk, shoes, feed, britches, and hammers; when the upstairs room hosted wedding receptions and lodge meetings; and when children paid 12 cents each to sit on benches and watch Gene Autry movies. For two hours, these people reach back into their lives to remember their friend Robert Earl, and by the time I leave for my hotel, the giant man from the Guinness Book has stepped from the gallery of freaks and oddities frozen with him on those pages, and ambled forward as a living, breathing human being.
* * *
This
article appears in the June 2001 issue of Chicago magazine. Subscribe
to Chicago magazine.
World's Heaviest Man remembered as small-town boy
FISHHOOK [Missouri] -- Robert Earl Hughes' weight was both a prison and
a passkey.
The memorial for Robert Earl Hughes sits at Fishhook's main
intersection. Jennifer Coombes/Quincy Herald-Whig
An infant case of whooping cough shook his pituitary gland, triggering
his girth to explode. Robert Earl weighed more than 200 pounds at age
6, nearly double that at age 10 and more than a half-ton by his 30s.
For most of his life, his size left him immobile and home-bound in a
tiny farming community. But his girth also served as his ticket out of
western Illinois: as a carnival fat man, Robert Earl got to see more
of America than most poor folk could imagine.
That's why in Fishhook, residents always remember Robert Earl with a
smile on his face. Fifty years after his early death, folks still
fondly recall the small-town boy who became The World's Heaviest Man.
Robert Earl's hold on Fishhook -- a town 20 miles east of Hannibal,
Missouri, with a population of 29 -- remains remarkable, even a half-
century after he last walked these parts. Catty-corner from Fishhook
Market, the only store in the business district, a four-foot-tall slab
of black granite juts out of the earth. It hosts a light etching of a
large man in overalls, his face beaming a genial smile as he leans on
a thick cane for needed support. Underneath is this message:
"May we not only remember he was the world's largest man from the
small community of Fishhook, but also an average man with an enormous
heart for people."
The memorial went up only last year, after the small community somehow
came up with $3,500.
"In the summer, there'll be somebody stopping by to look at it every
day," says Jerry Dougherty, who owns Fishhook Market.
* * *
In 1926 in Monticello, Missouri, along came an 11 1/4-pound boy named
Robert Earl Hughes, the first child of Georgia Hughes, 20, and Abe
Hughes, 48. A sharecropper, Abe Hughes eked out a subsistence living.
Soon after Robert Earl's birth, he cut a new deal outside Fishhook.
The tiny family had no running water or electricity, but the land was
cheap.
At 5 months old, Robert Earl started coughing fiercely and
persistently, a sign of whooping cough. With no remedy available, the
family waited out the disease. The coughing eventually stopped but
left its mark in a big way.
Two years later, with Robert Earl growing far larger than the average
lad of that age, the family scratched together enough money to visit a
doctor. He had been healthy, except for that case of the whooping
cough. The doctor determined the cough had permanently discombobulated
Robert Earl's pituitary gland. Instead of regulating his growth
properly, the gland was prompting a runaway plumping.
For the next four years, Robert Earl kept expanding. One day, his
parents hitched up the horse and wagon to take him to town, to weigh
him on the platform scale at the general store. Though the 6-year-old
stood just slightly taller than average, the scale registered a
remarkable 203 pounds.
After starting first grade in a one-room schoolhouse several miles
away, the sociable boy liked interacting with children, far more than
he would typically see around his farmhouse. Over the years, though,
Robert Earl's burgeoning girth made the long walks to school
exhausting and excruciating. By age 10, his weight hit 378 pounds,
according to the scale at the general store. His trips into town
became something of a public spectacle, and word of his size began to
trickle through Pike, Adams and Brown counties.
But Robert Earl was not slothful. He gladly would help on the family
farm, feeding chickens, gathering eggs and performing other jobs that
could be done at a slow pace. All accounts peg him as a gregarious,
smiling youngster -- "a very jolly fellow," as former neighbor Harry
Manley, 84, described him.
Those close to Robert Earl say he did not eat like a pig. They say he
had a hearty appetite, perhaps enough to pack extra pounds onto any
person. But they say his meals were not so big as to account for his
enormous size.
Still, by age 13 he had reached an astounding 546 pounds. At school,
he sat on a special bench braced with two-by-fours and wire. But the
walk became risky. One day, he stumbled and rolled into a ditch. His
size rendered him unable to maneuver himself out. Friends ran for
help, summoning several men who used ropes to pull him to safety.
* * *
By age 16, the 5-foot, 9-inch boy weighed 600 pounds. Two years later,
he passed 709 pounds. That year, 1944, he had to register for the
draft. But his parents told the draft board that they had no way of
getting Robert Earl to registration in Mount Sterling, 12 miles away.
So, the draft board went to Fishhook to register him.
Stories about the unusual draft accommodations made papers in Quincy
and other nearby cities -- the first time Robert Earl made headlines.
The stories said Robert Earl, likely the largest man to register for
the draft, wore size 56 overalls, to which his mother had added a 17-
inch swatch of material.
These curiosities caught the eye of savvy marketers. Two years later,
at age 20, Robert Earl made his first public appearances, at festivals
in nearby Baylis and Meredosia. To get there, he rode in the back of
pickup trucks furnished by the festival organizers.
Robert Earl brought photos of himself to the festivals, which he sold
and autographed: 25 cents for a 3-inch-by-5-inch shot or 50 cents for
an 8-by-10. At the Baylis festival alone, he sold 160 photos and took
orders for more. He loved the attention, and offers soon poured in
from other festivals, promising $50 to $100 per day -- a princely sum
to a poor family of dirt farmers.
* * *
After his mother, who had disapproved of her son selling himself as a
freak, died of a stroke, a 21-year-old Robert Earl realized he no
longer could break her heart and decided to use his size to his
advantage.
Publicity allowed Robert Earl to make a good chunk of money. He made
appearances at grand openings and other functions in Illinois,
Missouri and Iowa. One store used his photo to tout custom-made
trousers it had fashioned for him. A tuxedo shop displayed a picture
of him grinning inside a massive penguin suit.
The money was nice. But mostly he liked the appearances for the
opportunity to meet people. As something of a celebrity at these
events, Robert Earl was meeting far more folks than anyone in Fishhook
might see in a lifetime.
In 1953, he stepped onto the platform scale at the Fishhook store,
hitting 946 pounds. Robert Earl likely was the heaviest man on earth
at that time.
The next year, Robert Earl signed his first carnival contract.
Fairgoers flocked to see the spectacle of the half-ton man: 25 cents
per adult, a dime for the kiddies. Despite the gawking, most fans
treated Robert Earl with respect. He didn't mind personal questions,
such as those about the size of his bed (six legs) and his ability to
tie his shoes (he could not).
* * *
Although he loved life on the road, Robert Earl sought more
opportunities. In late 1956, he hit 1,041 pounds. He had officially
become the World's Heaviest Man.
An East Coast publicist saw an angle there. He said Robert Earl was a
natural for variety shows hosted by the likes of Ed Sullivan, Jackie
Gleason and Steve Allen. The publicist offered $40,000, plus expenses.
An amazed Robert Earl agreed eagerly. But the logistics were tricky.
A private ambulance -- apparently, the only vehicle large enough for
Robert Earl to take a long-distance trip -- took him from Missouri to
Chicago's O'Hare Field. There, thanks to special permission from the
Civil Aeronautics Board, he would be allowed to board a freight
carrier.
Newspapers chided the spectacle. The Sun-Times asked in a headline,
"Will He Fit on TV Screen?"
Once in New York City, the publicist put up Robert Earl and a pair of
family friends in a swank hotel. Tailors arrived to take Robert Earl's
measurements for a special suit: He was to appear on TV as The World's
Largest Santa Claus.
But it never happened. Robert Earl never heard another word, not from
Ed Sullivan, not from the publicist, not from anyone. Soon, the hotel
kicked him out for failure to pay his bill. Robert Earl and his
companions were on the street, with no money or hope. They went to the
Salvation Army, which took pity and covered the large tab to fly him
back to the Midwest. He rarely talked of the matter again.
"He was pretty blue," his sister-in-law Lillian Hughes says. "He
thought he could trust people."
* * *
In 1957, Robert Earl joined the Gooding Amusement Co. for a Midwest
carnival tour. In early July, Robert Earl developed a skin rash. When
family members asked if he was all right, he replied, "You know, I
always have this heat in the summer." But days later, Robert Earl's
fingernails began to turn dark blue. His brother summoned a doctor,
who suspected a heart attack and told them to take Robert Earl to the
nearest hospital.
Weakened and unable to move, he was too big to transport into the
building. So physicians came out to the carnival trailer to examine
him. The diagnosis: the measles, possibly from his two nieces. The
disease was causing uremia, a kidney malfunction, and he was fading
fast.
Robert Earl would never leave that trailer -- not alive. He fell into a
coma and died two days later, on July 10, of congestive heart failure.
He was 32.
Robert Earl was not buried in an old piano case as per an apocryphal
story long published in the Guinness Book of World Records. Rather,
the Embalming Burial Case Co. of Burlington, Iowa, built a custom
casket: 85 inches long, 52 inches wide and 34 inches deep. It was made
of heavy cypress and reinforced with steel.
In Mount Sterling, a forklift hoisted Robert Earl's body off the
carnival trailer and into the casket. The funeral was the most-
attended in Brown County, with more than 2,000 mourners paying their
last respects to the World's Heaviest Man. Twelve pallbearers moved
the casket on rollers to the grave site, and a crane lowered the
casket into its final resting place.
A simple granite marker stands atop the grave: Robert Earl Hughes;
June 1, 1926-July 10, 1958; World's Heaviest Man; Weight 1,041
Pounds."
Those who know him say he likely was somewhat heavier at the time of
death. No matter, his record has been far eclipsed since then.
Not that they care in Fishhook. There, they still care about Robert
Earl Hughes -- not about the size of his waistline, but the size of his
heart and his smile.
All-time world weight records
The following list notes the top six heaviest people of all time as
well as his or her country of origin and birth and death years.
Carol Yager, U.S., 1960-94, more than 1,600 pounds
Jon Brower Minnoch, U.S.,1941-83, 1,400 pounds
Manuel Uribe, Mexico, born 1965, 1,235 pounds
Walter Hudson, U.S., 1944-91, 1,197 pounds
Michael Hebranko, U.S., born 1953, more than 1,100 pounds
Robert Earl Hughes, U.S., 1926-58, 1,069 pounds
Source: Wikipedia, based on news articles
http://www.sj-r.com/News/
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