Fast Food Study by Washington University Pays People to Pack on the Pounds
A new study being conducted by a top American university is going to pay participants to eat unhealthy food in hopes that they will gain weight.
Washington University's St. Louis campus is conducting the study, which is focused on obesity and is asking participants to pack on the pounds in return for a paycheck worth several thousand dollars.
As a part of the university's study on obesity, the school is offering the study's participants the opportunity to eat all types of fast food that they want multiple times every day for three months. For their fast food appetites, they will each receive $3,500 upon completion of the study.
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The sole requirement of each of the participants is that they must gain a minimum of five percent of their starting weight before the end of the three months.
"By choosing fast foods, we can regulate that food intake much better than trying to tell people to try and decide on their own eating food at home, which requires judgment and educations on what you're eating … By going to eat fast food, we know exactly what they're eating," according to Dr. Sam Klein, of Washington University, who is involved in the study.
The ultimate goal of the obesity study is to figure out why some individuals who consume unhealthy food become over weight and others do not.
It also aims to determine the reason that some overweight people develop diabetes and other health problems related to obesity such as cardiovascular problems and some people do not.
In order to be eligible for the study, participants need to be between 18 and 65 years old, be a non-smoker and must not have diabetes. Also, participants need to already be at least 30 pounds overweight.
At the end of the study participants will be registered for a weight loss program.
