Dieting can backfire – but don’t blame it on greed and laziness | Thomas Barber

Overweight people can easily pile the pounds back on after a diet, betrayed by a metabolism that's both under-evolved and damaged by weight loss

Obesity is one of the biggest threats to the health of our species. Over the past 40 years there has been a remarkable change to human bodies globally. According to the World Health Organisation, most adults living in the US and Europe are either overweight or obese.

Yet worryingly for those of us seeking to tackle this problem, a recent study in the New York Times of contestants who lost weight on the TV show The Biggest Loser showed that the formerly obese have lower resting metabolic rates than others of a similar weight - making it all the easier for them to pile back on the weight. They could eat the same as someone else of the same weight, but pile on the pounds regardless.

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