Ask the Author: Daniel Schulof
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Daniel Schulof
The American Medical Association considers obesity a disease. And it isn’t hard to see why. It is a condition that compromises all manner of vital bodily functions, it has direct pathophysiological ties to an assortment of deadly comorbidities, and it shortens expected lifespan.
And all this is true for canine obesity too. A landmark study published in 2002 showed that moderately overweight dogs tend to die much, much younger than their leaner counterparts. Being just moderately overweight is deadlier for a dog than a lifetime of smoking is for a human being. Obesity is tied to all sorts of common canine diseases, notably including cancer, the most common cause of death for dogs in the United States today.
And given how common canine obesity is—depending on which researcher you ask, one-third to one-half of the more than seventy million dogs in America today are overweight or obese—we’re fully justified in calling it an epidemic.
And all this is true for canine obesity too. A landmark study published in 2002 showed that moderately overweight dogs tend to die much, much younger than their leaner counterparts. Being just moderately overweight is deadlier for a dog than a lifetime of smoking is for a human being. Obesity is tied to all sorts of common canine diseases, notably including cancer, the most common cause of death for dogs in the United States today.
And given how common canine obesity is—depending on which researcher you ask, one-third to one-half of the more than seventy million dogs in America today are overweight or obese—we’re fully justified in calling it an epidemic.
Daniel Schulof
Pet food is a $20 billion annual industry in the United States. And industry forces seem to be playing a bit of a mixed role when it comes to the canine obesity epidemic. On the one hand, a sizable fraction of the funding for small animal nutritional research comes from pet food companies and the charitable foundations to which they contribute. Funding for small animal research is notoriously hard to come by. So it’s a very good thing that industry uses some of its largesse to help the scientific community improve our understanding of nutrition and obesity.
But the close relationship between the pet food industry and the scientific community is both a blessing and a curse. Because those financial ties create some profound conflicts of interest between researchers whose duty it is to understand and explain the true causes of obesity and the multinational corporations that fund much of their research.
If you’ve been paying attention to the news lately, you’ve seen a number of recent stories about the ways that the sugary industry has suppressed scientific findings showing just how unhealthy sugar is. The same forces that compelled that type of malfeasance are also at work in the world of pet food. Just as with the sugar industry, the leading pet food firms have a vested interest in promoting or exaggerating the health benefits of some very specific ingredients, particularly the starchy carbohydrates (corn, wheat, rice, potatoes) around which almost all dry dog food products are constructed.
There is a good deal of published scientific research suggesting that those very ingredients are uniquely fattening for dogs and that they play an outsized role in causing canine obesity. But that research is almost never discussed in veterinary nutrition textbooks. Which sounds surprising until one realizes that the leading textbooks are, literally, written by pet food companies.
But the close relationship between the pet food industry and the scientific community is both a blessing and a curse. Because those financial ties create some profound conflicts of interest between researchers whose duty it is to understand and explain the true causes of obesity and the multinational corporations that fund much of their research.
If you’ve been paying attention to the news lately, you’ve seen a number of recent stories about the ways that the sugary industry has suppressed scientific findings showing just how unhealthy sugar is. The same forces that compelled that type of malfeasance are also at work in the world of pet food. Just as with the sugar industry, the leading pet food firms have a vested interest in promoting or exaggerating the health benefits of some very specific ingredients, particularly the starchy carbohydrates (corn, wheat, rice, potatoes) around which almost all dry dog food products are constructed.
There is a good deal of published scientific research suggesting that those very ingredients are uniquely fattening for dogs and that they play an outsized role in causing canine obesity. But that research is almost never discussed in veterinary nutrition textbooks. Which sounds surprising until one realizes that the leading textbooks are, literally, written by pet food companies.
Daniel Schulof
Several things got me interested in America's canine obesity epidemic.
First and foremost, my interest sprung from a desire to protect my own dog. He’s a Rottweiler and he’s the kind of dog who requires some daily exercise in order to behave like a polite member of society. And I stumbled upon some scary facts surrounding the canine obesity epidemic while I was surfing the Internet in an effort to find more effective ways to exercise him. Specifically, that (1) according to the Association for Pet Obesity Prevention, more than half of America’s dogs are overweight are obese and that (2) even moderate obesity is deadlier for a dog than a lifetime of smoking is for a human being.
And those facts stunned me. Americans are crazy about our dogs. As a nation, we spend tens of billions of dollars on them every year. We treat them like family members. And whether a dog becomes overweight or not is almost entirely down to its owner. We’re in almost complete control. So, in a way, you’d think that we’d all be doing our part to keep them fit. But apparently we’re not. And that fascinated me—it seemed like such an easy problem to avoid. It seemed like there had to be more to the story. So I set out to learn more.
And the deeper down the research rabbit hole I went, the more interesting the story became.
First and foremost, my interest sprung from a desire to protect my own dog. He’s a Rottweiler and he’s the kind of dog who requires some daily exercise in order to behave like a polite member of society. And I stumbled upon some scary facts surrounding the canine obesity epidemic while I was surfing the Internet in an effort to find more effective ways to exercise him. Specifically, that (1) according to the Association for Pet Obesity Prevention, more than half of America’s dogs are overweight are obese and that (2) even moderate obesity is deadlier for a dog than a lifetime of smoking is for a human being.
And those facts stunned me. Americans are crazy about our dogs. As a nation, we spend tens of billions of dollars on them every year. We treat them like family members. And whether a dog becomes overweight or not is almost entirely down to its owner. We’re in almost complete control. So, in a way, you’d think that we’d all be doing our part to keep them fit. But apparently we’re not. And that fascinated me—it seemed like such an easy problem to avoid. It seemed like there had to be more to the story. So I set out to learn more.
And the deeper down the research rabbit hole I went, the more interesting the story became.
Daniel Schulof
A far-too-long piece about a well-known public intellectual who burned a bit too bright and got himself caught up in a kind of professional bear trap. It features elements of reportage, personal essay, and academic philosophy. Alas, probably not the kind of thing that many folks will read.
Daniel Schulof
I have no idea whether these would help others, but three pieces of advice that helped me produce a book that I'm proud of:
1) Read as much as possible. Don't exclude diverse, challenging, ambitious, or unfamiliar stuff. Try to figure out what works for you and what doesn't, what qualities you'd like to emulate.
2) Take your time. Don't commit yourself to production deadlines or any other obligations that might cause you to rush through your research or writing. Your book will live forever, so prioritize getting it right over getting it out quickly.
3) Write every day (or thereabouts). In my experience, daily time investment goals are much more helpful than production-related goals. Find some time to sit down every day and you'll make consistent progress on your project (and you'll keep your writing muscles in shape).
1) Read as much as possible. Don't exclude diverse, challenging, ambitious, or unfamiliar stuff. Try to figure out what works for you and what doesn't, what qualities you'd like to emulate.
2) Take your time. Don't commit yourself to production deadlines or any other obligations that might cause you to rush through your research or writing. Your book will live forever, so prioritize getting it right over getting it out quickly.
3) Write every day (or thereabouts). In my experience, daily time investment goals are much more helpful than production-related goals. Find some time to sit down every day and you'll make consistent progress on your project (and you'll keep your writing muscles in shape).
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