News: McDonald's Bad For You

[andrewducker]

To see what happened, Morgan Spurlock decided to spend 30 days eating nothing but McDonalds.  Something which I would assume would make you fat, but otherwise not be seriously bad for your health.

However:

Within a few days of beginning his drive-through diet, Spurlock, 33, was vomiting out the window of his car, and doctors who examined him were shocked at how rapidly Spurlock's entire body deteriorated.

His liver became toxic, his cholesterol shot up from a low 165 to 230, his libido flagged and he suffered headaches and depression.

Spurlock charted his journey from fit to flab in a tongue-in-cheek documentary, which he has taken to the Sundance Film Festival with the hopes of getting a distribution deal.

"Super Size Me" explores the obesity epidemic that plagues America today - a sort of "Bowling for Columbine" for fast food.

Over the course of the film, Spurlock is regularly examined by a gastroenterologist, a cardiologist and SoHo-based general practitioner Dr. Daryl Isaacs.

"He was an extremely healthy person who got very sick eating this McDonald's diet," Dr. Isaacs told The Post.

"None of us imagined he could deteriorate this badly - he looked terrible. The liver test was the most shocking thing - it became very, very abnormal."

More here.

Comments

[yonmei.livejournal.com]

I do tend to take anything the New York Post publishes with a shovelful of salt, so I googled on Morgan Spurlock: There's a transcript (http://edition.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0401/15/lol.02.html) of an interview here. And this site about the film, which says (http://festival.sundance.org/filmguide/popup.aspx?film=F5331) "The rules? For 30 days he can't eat or drink anything that isn't on McDonald's menu; he must wolf three squares a day; he must consume everything on the menu at least once and supersize his meal if asked." He also gave up exercising (http://www.filmthreat.com/Interviews.asp?Id=758) for the duration of making the film. The combination would account for his 30-pound weight gain, but apparently only the NYP mentions liver damage. (Then again, could gaining that much weight, that fast, through eating so much fatty food, actually cause liver damage? I honestly don't know.)

plus

[josephgrossberg.livejournal.com]

It aint' exactly scientific ... a sample of one and all.

plus plus

[blackmanxy.livejournal.com]

Not to mention if the guy's girlfriend is a vegetarian, it's almost certain he was eating vegetarian before this too, so switching over to McMeat is going to have more obvious effects on him.

[guyinahat.livejournal.com]

damn,
I fancy a Big Mac now

[a-pawson.livejournal.com]

Oh, so eating fattening and unhealthy food makes you fat and unhealthy? Well there's a shock.

Something tells me this entire story is somewhat exaggerated for headline grabbing publicity. I'm sure eating McDonalds for a month is bad for you, but the lack of any evidence regarding the supposed illnesses leads me down the skeptical path.

If anyone's interested, his website is here.
http://www.supersizeme.com