and Jesus said onto thee...i'll super-size that

[TheGimp]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_med_last_supper_obesity

Has even the Last Supper been supersized?

The food in famous paintings of the meal has grown by biblical proportions over the last millennium, researchers report in a medical journal Tuesday.

Using a computer, they compared the size of the food to the size of the heads in 52 paintings of Jesus Christ and his disciples at their final meal before his death.

If art imitates life, we're in trouble, the researchers conclude. The size of the main dish grew 69 percent; the size of the plate, 66 percent, and the bread, 23 percent, between the years 1000 and 2000.

Supersizing is considered a modern phenomenon, but "what we see recently may be just a more noticeable part of a very long trend," said Brian Wansink, a food behavior scientist at Cornell University.

The study was his idea. For biblical context, he sought help from his brother, Craig Wansink, professor of religious studies at Virginia Wesleyan College in Norfolk, Va., and an ordained Presbyterian minister.

The Bible says the Last Supper took place on a Passover evening but gives little detail on specific foods besides bread and wine.

"There's nothing else mentioned. They don't say there's a fruit cup or carrot cake," though other foods such as fish, eel, lamb and even pork have appeared in paintings through the years, Brian Wansink said.

For the study, he used paintings featured in the book "Last Supper," published in 2000 by Phaidon Press. They include perhaps the most famous portrayal of the meal, by Leonardo da Vinci. Computer technology allowed them to scan, rotate and calculate images regardless of their orientation in the paintings.

Details are in the April issue of the International Journal of Obesity.

The study is "not very meaningful science," said Martin Binks, a behavioral health psychologist and a consultant at Duke University Medical Center. "We have real life examples of the increase in portion size — all you have to do is look at what's being sold at fast-food restaurants."

A more contemporary test would be to analyze portion sizes in Super Bowl commercials, he suggested.

"That would be a much more meaningful snapshot of how this society's relationship to food has changed," Binks said.

[Soulrev]

I would beg to differ on the fast food portions thing. I know for a fact Burger King's Whopper and McDonald's Big Mac are not as large as they used to be. In fact, in the past 10-15 years I would say all foods portions have gradually gotten smaller. Ya know, with all the lazy ass Americans, we've gottz to diet! Fuck excersize and stuff! We're lazy! -=shakes his head in shame=-

[Troy Spiral (13)]

Have to be careful of using personal experience as a measure of reality on a wide scale. For instance, I'n my personal life and circle of friends I've seen a lot of increase in weight loss, but actual country-wide studies show the opposite trend. But even if the national trend went along with my guess based on personal experience, my limited sample of the whole isn't enough to make a conclusion. I can use it as a starting point to start thinking about such things, but it isn't conclusive.

Also in my personal experience for instance, men play way more video games than women, but actual studies show a clear trend in the opposite direction. But again even if my personal experience guess was found to be true, my reasoning "because I've seen it" is flawed. Again its fair to use that as a starting hypothesis and work out from there with a bit more homework.

My guesses based on my personal experiences might turn out to be right, but using them as a measure of what is true in the macro, is often in error.