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December 22, 2006

Strange But True!

Q. If Santa consumed even one-millionth of the goodies kids set out for him at many homes throughout the world, his large girth would be easily accounted for. How might dietary scientists weigh in on this?

A. Thousands of years ago, being able to store large quantities of energy-dense fuel in the form of adipose (fatty) tissue spelled survival when food was scarce, says Roger Highfield in “The Physics of Christmas: From the Aerodynamics of Reindeer to the Thermodynamics of Turkey.” But today's plentiful food and sedentary lifestyles have nixed all that, bringing on an obesity health crisis. (Note Santa's hardworking trimmer-slimmer elf-mates.)


 
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