An upside to high food prices

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Child obesity rates may have reached a plateau in the US after decades of almost continuous rises, a report says.

An analysis of data from 1999 to 2006 by the US government's Centers for Disease Control and Prevention showed obesity rates stable at 16%.

Public health experts remained cautious about the findings and were unable to pinpoint the reasons for them.

...

One theory for the trend is that public health campaigns aimed at raising awareness of the problem and improving school meals have had a positive impact.

Another suggestion is that there has been a natural levelling [sic.] off related to the proportion of the population who are susceptible to obesity.

Yeah. I know it's unpopular to suggest that people get obese by eating too much, but it makes a little intuitive sense that more expensive food makes for less obesity. Or maybe more expensive gas makes for more walking (and bicycling!) Anyway, I just wanted to throw that theory out there, as the author seemed to miss it.