The 50th annual meeting of the American Dietetics Association got a special after-desert treat yesterday.
Jean Mayer, professor of Nutrition, told the group in Chicago that soft living has left the American male in "absolutely miserable" physical shape. He then cited a "shocking mortality rate" from heart disease and laid the basic blame on insufficient exercise.
Mayer blamed the downfall of physical activity on such things as the automobile and the "ugly" American cities.
Even though people are eating less than they did in 1900, he said, "desk-sitting types" no longer need so much energy. So food turns to fat, and fat to a prospective heart attack. Mayer compared American men with animals penned up to be fattened for the kill.
In addition to physcial inactivity, he lisetd other probabl ecauses of heart disease: a high-fat diet, too much weight, excessive cigarette smoking and coffee intake, and too little sleep.
As for himself, Mayer avoids heart disease by climbin six flights of stairs rahet rthan using the elevator.
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