Welcome back to Tomland - You're as fat as your zip code!

Hello everyone,

I've taken the summer off (hey it's not like I get paid for this). So what brings me back? Today's top story in the Seattle PI. We're talking front page, above the fold. The article talks about how Seattle's property values beat out income and education as predictors of Obesity. You can read the full article here.

The strongest predictor of obesity rates wasn't income or education but property values, the study found. Each additional $100,000 in median home value for a ZIP code corresponded with a drop in obesity of 2 percentage points.

It's further evidence, experts say, that weight isn't solely about individual behavior and that the environment you live in matters.

"If you have this mind-set that obesity has to do with the individual alone, then ZIP codes or areas really should not come into this. But they do, big-time," said Adam Drewnowski, director of the UW Center for Obesity Research.

Really? The price of a house is the best prediction of obesity? The problem with the front page article is that the logic is flawed. Home value is not a predictor of obesity at all, rather it is the end result in a long line of other symptoms.

Relevant to this discussion, a fundamental economic reason for obesity is wealth. The poor eat more junk/fast food then the well off. This is because poor folk have a harder time paying $30 for that fresh fish special and an easier time paying $5 for the extra value meal and McDonald's. Of course often lack of money also leads to lack of education which can go hand-in-hand with choosing to spend the $5 on fast food, instead of spending it at the grocery store. This lack of education often means lower paying jobs which translates into cheaper housing.

So... is the value of your house really a predictor of weight? NO it's just a visible by-product of lower eduction and income. These are the real issues at hand.

What amazes me is that while Seattle has the most bachelor degrees of any city in the country, this flawed logic makes it to the front page of Seattle's paper. Bad writing, and bad logic... NOT TOMLAND APPROVED.