Evidence Implicating Eating as a Primary Driver for the Obesity
Epidemic    1. Robert W. Jeffery and   2. Lisa J. Harnack   1.
From the Division of Epidemiology and Community Health,
University of Minnesota School of Public Health, Minneapolis,
Minnesota   1. Address correspondence and reprint requests to
Robert W. Jeffery, Division of Epidemiology and Community
Health, University of Minnesota, 1300 S. 2nd St., Suite 300,
Minneapolis, Minnesota 55454-1015. E-mail:
jefferyrw{at}gmail.com   This article addresses the extent to
which increases in energy intake as opposed to decreases in
energy expenditure are driving the obesity epidemic. It argues
that while both intake and expenditure are plausible and
probable contributors, the fact that all intake is behavioral,
whereas less than half of expenditure is behavioral, makes
intake a conceptually more appealing primary cause. A review of
per capita food disappearance trends over time and of trends in
individual intakes is presented to support the plausibility of