Title: Is junk food to blame for the obesity epidemic? - CBS News
Headings: Is junk food to blame for the obesity epidemic?
Is junk food to blame for the obesity epidemic?
7 bad habits that could be wrecking your diet

Content: Just worked with lab co-director Brian Wansink, PhD, to review the 2007-2008 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Household and Nutrition Examination Survey -- a nationally representative sample of approximately 5,000 adults in the U.S.
The participants were asked to recall their food intake within the last 24-hour period on two separate occasions. Height and weight were also collected to calculate body mass index (BMI). The Cornell team's analysis, published in the journal Obesity Science & Practice, showed something surprising: there was no significant difference in junk food intake between overweight and healthy individuals. In fact, consumption of soda, candy and fast food was not linked to BMI for 95 percent of the population. The exception came with those on the extreme ends of the BMI spectrum: the chronically underweight and the morbidly obese. 7 bad habits that could be wrecking your diet
While the researchers emphasized that eating junk food is still certainly unhealthy, they concluded that the overwhelming majority of weight problems are not caused by consumption of soda, candy and fast food alone. Rather the problem is that many Americans are just eating too much and not exercising enough. For example, the researchers note that the average daily calories consumed in the U.S. in the 1970's, before the obesity epidemic took off, was 2,039 -- compared to the average of 2,544 consumed circa 2010.