Its also the era in which deep fat frying turkeys became popular.

I'd be more impressed if the average American man ALSO increased in weight by 164%, instead of the 15%-20% shown in the graph. C'mon, we can't be outdone by dumb ol' turkeys!

growth hormones does wonders to modern food industry...since meat is typically sold by weight I guess it only makes sense to create animals that are heavier per unit....

What about Global Warming?
Since 1960.

Gotta call the IPCC.....
Al, get yer coat off

I'm not sure those percents work out to a comparable gain. And, change the origins and units on the scales and the whole graph would look different. Crappy journalism.

woaw, I weighed about 1mg in 1960, and was over 200 lbs in 2008, guess I bulked up a whole bunch o turkeys!

(concieved in 1960 -duh)

*plays with the fat roll on her tummy*

are you trying to imply somethin' here article?

I blame steroids. And gravy.

I'm currently getting fatter, so I'm really getting a kick out of these replies. . .

My questionable math skills are telling me 29-11=18, not 28....

;)

Reminds me of something we used to do in my hometown. It's where my screenname came from, in fact. We'd bulk up geese.

You should have been around in the days when you could come to Watertown and get your goose noodled but good.

Back at the turn of the last century, we loved to noodle geese. We'd take a young little gosling and lovingly give it an oral treatment of our big grain noodles. Oh, yes. We'd shove our noodles in all the way down. And the goose would just swell up so much. We'd noodle the goose over and over, again and again, as often as once every four-six hours we'd get an irresistable animalistic urge to give the goose another noodling. Sometimes we couldn't even sleep. We'd get up at 3, 4 in the morning because we just couldn't wait until dawn. We'd go until the goose had been noodled so much it couldn't even stand up anymore.

Then we broke out the machines so we could give the goose some extra-special noodling.

When the goose would be noodled by us no more, it was sent off to establishments in New York and Washington where wealthy clientele were just craving a good goosing. They would come from all over just to get a Watertown goosing. They BEGGED to get goosed, and oh, Watertown would give them a taste. Watertown would give them all the goosing they could handle. And they'd moan, because it was just so good, and they'd get goosed more and more and again and again until their mouths would EXPLODE with delight. Even after it was over, they'd count the days until they could return to get goosed again.

Nobody likes to talk about the postgoosing anal. Just too disgusting to discuss in polite company.

Watertown isn't in the noodling and goosing business anymore. We were young and needed the money.

And don't even ask how much weight the average chick gained...

madgordy: woaw, I weighed about 1mg in 1960, and was over 200 lbs in 2008, guess I bulked up a whole bunch o turkeys!

(concieved in 1960 -duh)


Came here to say something like this -- I weighed 9 lb 5 oz in late 1960, 255 lb now, growing about 54 inches taller along the way.

About the averages, 28 lb seems way low. Based solely on the way people looked years ago and the way they look now, I would have guessed it was more like 50 lb...

growth hormones does wonders to modern food industry...since meat is typically sold by weight I guess it only makes sense to create animals that are heavier per unit....

Nah, pure `classical' genetic engineering. Broad Breasted White toms (the standard turk - the hens sre what most folks buy) will hit 70Lb. (if their legs and hearts hold out) before they reach 10 months, on unmedicated poultry feed.

We used to buy 24 lb turkeys in the 60s. so in 40-45 years they have only bulked up 5 lbs.

/Dumbassed reporter is a dumbass.

Where do I get the seeds for one of those turkeys?

I have a feeling the excessive smoking from the 1960s may also have played something of a role... or maybe I've been watching too much Mad Men.

Behold the wonder of growth hormones.

Crazy Lee: growth hormones does wonders to modern food industry...since meat is typically sold by weight I guess it only makes sense to create animals that are heavier per unit....

Nah, pure `classical' genetic engineering. Broad Breasted White toms (the standard turk - the hens sre what most folks buy) will hit 70Lb. (if their legs and hearts hold out) before they reach 10 months, on unmedicated poultry feed.

Exactly. Just careful (or horrifying, depends on your perspective) breeding. It's not worth using hormones or other stuff on turkeys, they aren't worth enough. We've just bred them to become very efficient growers.

BigHarv: Exactly. Just careful (or horrifying, depends on your perspective) breeding. It's not worth using hormones or other stuff on turkeys, they aren't worth enough. We've just bred them to become very efficient growers.

Very efficient growers that require manual insemination, as anyone that's seen the turkey farmer episode of Dirty Jobs knows.

Tarkus: We used to buy 24 lb turkeys in the 60s. so in 40-45 years they have only bulked up 5 lbs.

/Dumbassed reporter is a dumbass.

What part of average don't you understand?

Delicious growth hormones?

Hasn't lead to mutants. Yet, anyway.

Tarkus: We used to buy 24 lb turkeys in the 60s. so in 40-45 years they have only bulked up 5 lbs.

/Dumbassed reporter is a dumbass.

I used to buy 200 lb turkeys in the '20s so they have actually lost a considerable amount of weight.

snocone: Where do I get the seeds for one of those turkeys?

According to the Merck Veterinary Manual: (pops)

"Collecting semen from a chicken or turkey is done by stimulating the copulatory organ to protrude by massaging the abdomen and the back over the testes. This is followed quickly by pushing the tail forward with one hand and, at the same time, using the thumb and forefinger of the same hand to "milk" semen from the ducts of this organ. Semen flow response is quicker and easier to stimulate in chickens than in turkeys. The semen may be collected with an aspirator or in a small tube or any cup-like container. In turkeys, the volume averages ~0.35-0.5 mL, with a spermatozoon concentration of 6 to >8 billion/mL. In chickens, volume is 2-3 times that of turkeys, but the concentration is about one-half. Collected semen is usually pooled."

Domestic turkeys are too fat to copulate with each other successfully, so the hens usually have to be artificially inseminated.

Happy Thanksgiving.

FloydA: snocone: Where do I get the seeds for one of those turkeys?

According to the Merck Veterinary Manual: (pops)

"Collecting semen from a chicken or turkey is done by stimulating the copulatory organ to protrude by massaging the abdomen and the back over the testes. This is followed quickly by pushing the tail forward with one hand and, at the same time, using the thumb and forefinger of the same hand to "milk" semen from the ducts of this organ. Semen flow response is quicker and easier to stimulate in chickens than in turkeys. The semen may be collected with an aspirator or in a small tube or any cup-like container. In turkeys, the volume averages ~0.35-0.5 mL, with a spermatozoon concentration of 6 to >8 billion/mL. In chickens, volume is 2-3 times that of turkeys, but the concentration is about one-half. Collected semen is usually pooled."

Domestic turkeys are too fat to copulate with each other successfully, so the hens usually have to be artificially inseminated.

Happy Thanksgiving.

FAPFAPFAP

I always had a hunch lean meats were the cause of the obesity epidemic. Nice try turkey lobbyists, I'm not buying it.

God-is-a-Taco: I always had a hunch lean meats were the cause of the obesity epidemic. Nice try turkey lobbyists, I'm not buying it.

interesting theory..I would like to subscribe to your newsletter..

"I hate turkeys. If you stand in the meat section at the grocery store long enough, you start to get mad a turkeys. There's turkey ham, turkey bologna, turkey pastrami...Some one needs to tell the turkey, man, just be yourself."

Mitch Hedberg

cedarpark: FloydA: snocone: Where do I get the seeds for one of those turkeys?

According to the Merck Veterinary Manual: (pops)

"Collecting semen from a chicken or turkey is done by stimulating the copulatory organ to protrude by massaging the abdomen and the back over the testes. This is followed quickly by pushing the tail forward with one hand and, at the same time, using the thumb and forefinger of the same hand to "milk" semen from the ducts of this organ. Semen flow response is quicker and easier to stimulate in chickens than in turkeys. The semen may be collected with an aspirator or in a small tube or any cup-like container. In turkeys, the volume averages ~0.35-0.5 mL, with a spermatozoon concentration of 6 to >8 billion/mL. In chickens, volume is 2-3 times that of turkeys, but the concentration is about one-half. Collected semen is usually pooled."

Domestic turkeys are too fat to copulate with each other successfully, so the hens usually have to be artificially inseminated.

Happy Thanksgiving.

FAPFAPFAP

GOBBLEGOBBLEGOBBLE

Only on the interweb, turkey pron.

this means that les lessman is making bigger potholes in Cincinnati.

You mean Americans are bulking up in proportion to the growth hormone fed factory-raised livestock that we all eat? Go figure.

This guy might have something that you'd be interested in hearing that's actually relevant to this issue:

Ted Nugent interview!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LXUI5hAxFYI&feature=related

Jarhead_h: You mean Americans are bulking up in proportion to the growth hormone fed factory-raised livestock that we all eat? Go figure.

You mean you lack the math skills required to see the flaw in the headline? Go figure.

FloydA: snocone: Where do I get the seeds for one of those turkeys?

According to the Merck Veterinary Manual: (pops)

"Collecting semen from a chicken or turkey is done by stimulating the copulatory organ to protrude by massaging the abdomen and the back over the testes. This is followed quickly by pushing the tail forward with one hand and, at the same time, using the thumb and forefinger of the same hand to "milk" semen from the ducts of this organ. Semen flow response is quicker and easier to stimulate in chickens than in turkeys. The semen may be collected with an aspirator or in a small tube or any cup-like container. In turkeys, the volume averages ~0.35-0.5 mL, with a spermatozoon concentration of 6 to >8 billion/mL. In chickens, volume is 2-3 times that of turkeys, but the concentration is about one-half. Collected semen is usually pooled."

Domestic turkeys are too fat to copulate with each other successfully, so the hens usually have to be artificially inseminated.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Turkeys got BALLS?!

FloydA:
Domestic turkeys are too fat to copulate with each other successfully, so the hens usually have to be artificially inseminated.
Happy Thanksgiving.

So they're virgins? Awesome.

I've been eating my Dad's Thanksgiving turkeys every year for the last 40 years or so.

This year, Dad finally got it right. Even the breast meat was tender and juicy. The dark meat? OMG.

snocone: Only on the interweb, turkey pron.

J. Jacques' been on top of this for years: Link (new window)

No way that the average person only weighs about 28lbs more now. Half the population is so large they should be implanted with a device that makes a beeping noise whey they back up.

The articles' author, perhaps?