DVD Talk review of 'Fat Head'
 

I read Chris Neilson's DVD review of Fat Head at http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=36515 and this is by far the best commentary about the strengths (and enormous weaknesses) of Fat Head that I have yet seen.

When the film finally gets around to explaining the scientific theories of Gary Taubes and others about the role of carbs and sugars and the glycemic index in relationship to body weight and heart disease, it makes a reasonably good presentation. But the film wastes a great deal of time in an often incoherent and completely superfluous attack on Supersize Me, as well as on Naughton's libertarian ideology about the evils of "Big Government" (working in concert with the entire medical and scientific establishments, big agriculture, and "radical" vegetarians). The film is also derailed by Naughton's juvenile and tedious attempts at making his points with humor, such as when he asks people on the street if they ever suffered a heart attack after eating fettucine. One can easily see why he abandoned his career in stand-up comedy in favor of writing software code.

The political subtext of the film is bizarre at times, such as when Naughton argues that there are higher rates of overweight individuals below the poverty line because minorities are "genetically predisposed" to have "thicker bodies," and when he argues a link between overweight youth and mandatory school busing for the purpose of desegregation.

Hopefully one day there will be a straight-forward and balanced documentary that looks closely at the quality of the science supporting the claims of both low fat and the low carb theories. Fat Head is not that movie, and that's too bad.

Re: DVD Talk review of 'Fat Head'
 

Thanks, Patrick! Good observations too.

Re: DVD Talk review of 'Fat Head'
 

Hi, how are you?
Very well written, and thank you!
I have a friend at work that said that the movie trumped Spurlock on all fronts, and I have become very curious to see this viewpoint regarding the glaring issues with how we approach obesity in this country, options we have, and how it relates to the role our government plays.
One correction though. You stated that in order to calculate his Total Cholesterol, you add his LDL and HDL together. This is incorrect, as there are 4 parameters that make up the overall cholesterol score. I recently had mine done, and the doctor clarified that the numbers wouldn't match up, as they are a sum of multiple parts.

See below the true definition of Total Cholesterol...

Total cholesterol is the sum of LDL (low density) cholesterol, HDL (high density) cholesterol, VLDL (very low density) cholesterol, and IDL (intermediate density) cholesterol.

Have a great day, and thanks again,

Jeff