Babies born during the brief but intense Biafra famine in Nigeria 40 years ago have grown up to be more susceptible to obesity and its attendant maladies than those born on either side of it, scientists have found.

The researchers, from the Karolinska Institute in Sweden and the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital in Enugu, said the finding added evidence to the argument that malnutrition in the womb causes greater susceptibility to such problems in later life.

More Obesity Seen Among Nigerians Born in Biafra Famine – NYTimes.com

A court in Brazil has ordered McDonald’s to pay a man who worked at McDonald’s for a dozen years an award of $17,500. What offense did the fast food chain commit? It offered free lunches to employees. It also hired people incognito to visit restaurants and report on food quality, which forced the plaintiff to sample the food to make sure that the quality was good.

As a result of this, the former franchise manager sued McDonald’s for his gain of 65 pounds over a 12-year period. This case is another stark reminder of why America must not accept “international law” as acceptable legal precedent in American courts.

McDonald’s Liable for Fat Employees

A large increase in the number of Americans with arthritis may be due to the country’s rise in obesity. Arthritis is already the most common cause of disability in the United States, limiting the activities of nearly 21 million adults.

Arthritis Now Impacting 50 Million Americans, Obesity A Key Factor – EmpowHER.com

Bloomberg reports a U.S. judge determined consumers’ lawsuit claiming McDonald’s food led to childhood obesity could not proceed as a single group.

McDonald’s convinced the judge the cases against the fast food chain must be individual because consumer claims were too distinct to be grouped together. The lawsuit was initially filed in 2002 by teenagers Ashley Pelman and Jazlen Bradley who accused McDonald’s of deceptively marketing its products from 1985 to 2002, causing negative effects on their health and violating New York law.

The judge determined the teenagers didn’t prove their peers who were exposed to the same marketing and menu items at McDonald’s suffered the same medical injuries.

Obesity Case Against McDonald’s Can’t Proceed As Single Group | Cattle Network