The study's apparent conclusion that fat friends can beget even more fat friends is almost laughable in the face of realities here in our country. Already, more than 60% of American adults are overweight and more than 30% obese, and predictions are that if eating patterns don't change much those numbers will climb in the coming years to 75% of Americans overweight and more than 40% obese. An alarming number of American kids are overweight, more than 15% and rising. So as we ponder the the desirability of stigmatizing our fatter friends (and am I correct in assuming we're all quite the svelte ones here?!) would we indeed have any other friends left to hang out with?

Don't get me wrong, Saletan's suggestion that the sad rise of "fat as normal" thinking must be faced head on is very valid in the light of these statistics, if only for the health of everyone involved. But thinner friends trying their gee-whiz best to "help" overweight and obese friends as a kinder/gentler form of stigma is just not going to stop the fattening of Americans, I'm sorry. And being mean definitely won't do it.

But institutionalizing the stigma COULD. Smoking, one of the largest (if not THE largest) preventable sources of death in our country, is on a slow but sure decline, and it wasn't because a lot of non-smoking friends talked their smoker friends into stopping. It's because they banned the ads on TV and radio, they barred the stuff from restaurants and offices and other work places, they sued the hell out of tobacco companies and they got some cities now on a bend to make it as difficult as possible for smokers to light up anywhere else. Talk about stigmatizing, and thank goodness for that!! How I wish we could ban fast foods and processed dinners...

But what President Clinton is doing with the snack industry and schools, and what local boards of ed are doing banning soft drink machines in schools all over the country --- THESE kinds of Big Picture efforts are where there is hope. Institutionally preventing others from "hurting themselves" by drastically reducing the otherwise ever-present availability of poor-quality, high-sugar foods is where it's at. Then the individual efforts of one friend to another might, at last, have a little support around here!!

Significant differences between those 2 situations, Dana.

First, nicotine is an addictive substance, so most smokers develop a chemical dependence on tobacco. There's no evidence of food having similar qualities, which means over-eaters are more likely to have a psychological dependence instead. No reason to think the same solution would work for 2 different problems.

Second, banning smoking indoors had to do with protecting the choice of non-smokers who wanted to breath as much as signaling the unhealthy nature of the habit to smokers (who can still go outside to poison themselves). As such, smoking bans meant increasing the range of options for the overall population. Your suggestion to ban fast food would decrease choice instead.

What happens with those of us who enjoy fast food but also work out daily? I get up at 5 AM 6 days a week in order to do so, and my BMI is pretty close to ideal. Why should I be deprived of something I can enjoy while remaining healthy? Shouldn't the solution to the problem reward those who prove they have self-discipline, while helping reform the behaviors of those who don't? That makes more sense that a one-size-fits-all (pun intended) approach that limits my freedom even though I'm not part of the problem.

I honestly wasn't serious about banning fast food or processed dinners...that was a wistful aside. Even if I was serious, you're right that when it comes to obesity versus smoking, we can't point to one particular fast food item or a double ice cream shake as the sole culprit like we can a cigarette. Furthermore, your point about the secondhand smoke argument being the major impetus behind the institutional banning of smoking in public places is absolutely correct.

But please hear me out: we're talking in this Fray about how best to stigmatize fatness as a way of discouraging it and reducing these scary statistical trends. And my main point is that the national movement towards eliminating snack and soda machines in schools is an excellent example of how we can begin to stigmatize unhealthful eating habits in a much more profound way instead of using well-meaning or just plain mean personal attacks as our number one strategy. Educating the public using institutional power is the better ticket!