general obesity in both men and women. Consuming a diet rich in unprocessed and minimally processed foods is linked with lower obesity risk and less chronic disease. These results are consistent among American, Canadian, Latin American, British, Australian, French, and Spaniard populations. Particular processing ingredients used in ultraprocessed foods have been linked with increasing the risk of obesity further. Intake of trans fat from industrial oils has been associated with increased abdominal obesity in men and increased weight and waist circumference in women. These associations were not attenuated when fat intake and calorie intake was accounted for. Similarly, heavy consumption of fried food is linked to greater obesity risk on a population level. On a more individual level, the relative risk of fried food consumption and increased weight gain seems to depend on genetic predisposition. Social policy and change New agricultural technologies have led to an overall reduction in the cost of food relative to household income, especially in high-income countries. In his popular book, "The Omnivore's Dilemma," the journalist Michael Pollan linked the subsidies offered to farmers of corn, soy, wheat, and rice through the U.S. farm bill to over-consumption of calories derived from these crops and to rising obesity rates. While increased consumption of foods derived from these commodities is correlated with an increase in BMI (at the population level), no current research supports a causal relationship between farm subsidies and obesity. From a policy perspective, the cost of sugar would actually decrease in the US if the commodity support programs in the farm bill were removed, largely due to the tariffs in the farm bill that restrict the importation of lower-cost sugar available on the global market. Participation by adults in the United States Department of Agriculture Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (i.e. Food Stamps) is positively associated with obesity, waist circumference, elevated fasting glucose, and metabolic syndrome. Metabolism Evidence does not support the commonly expressed view that some obese people eat little yet gain weight due to a slow metabolism. On average obese people have a greater energy expenditure than normal weight or thin people and actually have higher basal metabolic rates. This is because it takes more energy to maintain an increased body mass. Obese people also underreport how much food they consume compared to those of normal weight. Tests of human subjects carried out in a calorimeter support this conclusion. See also Abdominal obesity Criticism