Spurlock Supersize Me a Bit

Spurlock

Supersize me

A bit of supersized exaggeration about the scientific validity of Morgan Spurlock's experiment

This paper will examine Morgan Spurlock's documentary Supersize Me as a serious scientific study of the effects of fast food upon the body, and fast food's role in contributing to the obesity epidemic. It will examine methods of reproducing Spurlock's experiment under more scientifically controlled circumstances, and more scientifically valid and reliable means of measuring the potential effects of consumption and activity levels on weight.

Morgan Spurlock's documentary Supersize Me is so entertaining it is easy to forget that the viewer is actually watching an experiment. The experiment takes place over thirty days and is in the grand tradition of scientists who, in the absence of willing test subjects and in the face of ethical guidelines, decide to use themselves as their own willing test subjects. Spurlock is challenged by the spectacle of McDonald's defending itself on what were called frivolous lawsuits that blamed the fast food behemoth for teenage obesity. Fine, says Spurlock -- if McDonald's is so healthy, I will eat nothing but McDonald's for thirty days. His hypothesis of course, is that he will gain weight and his health will deteriorate. Spurlock also placed certain additional constraints upon himself -- every time he was told to supersize his order, or take advantage of special deals, like 2 for 1 offers, he had to take the bait -- and chow down. He also limited his physical activity to that of the average American. However, more legitimate scientific studies such as "Effect of physical inactivity on the oxidation of saturated and monounsaturated dietary fatty acids: Results of a randomized trial" by the European Space Agency raise questions about a one-man experiment which is conducted in the field with multiple variables influencing his physical development (Bergouignan et al. 2007, p. 1). Even a replication of the Spurlock experiment by Fredrik Nystrom (2006) with multiple subjects did not yield as dramatically negative results on its test subject's health and weight.

Spurlock does all he can to give his documentary the veneer of scientific validity. He subjects himself to a rigorous scientific medical exam, to prove his good health before he embarks upon his month-long ordeal. Although he does eat meat, Spurlock lives with a (beautiful) vegan chef, and works out religiously. He is proclaimed to be in good health, health that will rapidly deteriorate over the course of the experiment. To further underline the scientific validity behind his work, he interviews his increasingly horrified doctors at different points throughout the film, as they comment upon his shocking state of poor health. He also interviews noted nutritionists like Marion Nestle, who comments with disgust upon the shameful of the processed, caloric, and fatty American diet. Not all of Spurlock's stunt interviews are anecdotal, it should be noted -- the fact that 96% of American children can identify Ronald McDonald, more so than notable religious and political figures, is drawn from a study that had been conducted before the documentary. Spurlock cinematically demonstrates this statistic in a series of interviews with children, who fail to identify anybody but Ronald's smiling face (Schlosser 2002, p.42).

There are certain problems immediately obvious in the construct of the experiment. Spurlock is seen as force-feeding himself massive supersized meals, far more calories than he would even desire to consume in a day. People who overeat do not force-feed themselves, necessarily, but are already accustomed to eating more calories than they need daily, and they may eat other foods than fast food. In contrast, the children who beg to go to McDonald's may nibble a French fry, play on the playground, and much to their parent's chagrin, and show more interested in playing with the toys that come with the Happy Meal, than eating the food. The children, whom the bloated Spurlock can barely keep up with, at one point in the film, are notable testimony to this possibility. In contrast, a chubby child might grow plump on his or her grandmother's lasagna, and be encouraged to overeat in a traditional Italian home that would not think of consuming fast food. In other words, it is very easy to envision other scenarios that underline the truth that 'calories in and calories' out determine one's weight loss or gain. In fact, in one brief and often overlooked part of the film, there is a man who has eaten Big Macs every day of his life, who looks reasonably slim. Perhaps he exercises and budgets in his fast food consumption into his daily diet. Or perhaps fast food affects different individuals, metabolically -- just as people like Michael Phelps who engages in a great deal of exercise can eat more food and also more high-carbohydrate, highly caloric and fattening food, because of the lifestyle they lead. If Spurlock had continued to exercise, perhaps the effects on his body would not have been as dramatic -- it could even be theoretically argued that the terrible effects on his body were due to lack of exercise and the stress of filmmaking, rather than a poor diet alone.

In one trial, "supported by the European Space Agency, a group of researchers aimed to further understand the effects of physical inactivity on the way that fat from the diet is metabolized (i.e., broken down to generate energy). 18 healthy male volunteers were randomized into two groups, both of whom underwent 90 days of bed rest, aiming to mimic sedentary behavior…resting metabolic rate, which was higher in the exercise group. However, they did see physiologically relevant changes in fat metabolism of one of the fatty acids, palmitate, over the course of the trial within both groups studied. Although metabolism of oleate (monounsaturated fat) did not show significant changes over the course of the trial, metabolism of palmitate (saturated fat) dropped by nearly 10% in both groups (bed rest, and bed rest plus exercise)" (Bergouignan et al. 2007, p1). In short, compared with how they metabolized saturated fat before, a drop in exercise rate by bed-ridden young, healthy male subjects, even those with minor exercise (like Spurlock's controlled activity designed to mimic the behavior of the average American) experienced metabolic deterioration, specific to saturated fat metabolism. These subjects also did not consume fast food or excessive calories for their activity level, age, and weight and still had affected their abilities to metabolize fat affected because of inactivity or because of reduced activity.

Spurlock is thus a one-man experiment who is not representational of fast food customers as a whole because he subjects himself to numerous uncontrolled external variables, like his shift in exercise patterns. This makes his study highly suspect in terms of its validity. Interestingly, however, when Swedish researchers attempted to mimic Spurlock's experiment in a more clinically controlled trial, they also included the 'lack of activity' component. At the University of Linkoping, the Spurlock experience was replicated with "seven healthy medical students in their early 20s spent weeks stuffing themselves with hamburgers, pizzas, milk shakes and 200g bacon breakfasts - all on the university's tab…Physical exercise is to be avoided. Bikes are out. To discourage walking even the shortest distance, free bus passes have been issued" (Blomkvist 2006).

The study's main scientific director, Fredrik Nystrom was said to have been "puzzled about why Spurlock had such an extreme reaction, musing that he could perhaps have had an undiagnosed problem with his liver or, he says, "Maybe his hardcore vegetarian girlfriend held him to a low-energy diet, making him incapable of coping with this kind of food" (Blomkvist 2006). In this study, just as in Super Size Me, most calories came from fast food, although bacon and eggs and pizza was also allowed "as long as most of the calories still came from saturated fats, those having the most effect on levels of cholesterol. Still, it wasn't unusual for students to be about to go to bed only to discover that they were some 600 calories short of their daily target, and forced to face a large calorific milk shake rather than a mug of hot milk" (Blomkvist 2006). This, once again, does not mimic the usual approach, even of core fast food consumers, to eat themselves into oblivion, and purposely stuff themselves with calories. Consumers may be trying to lose weight, but fail.