It all falls on those proverbial deaf ears. Public health authorities repeatedly inform us that we are eating ourselves to death. Obesity rates among the public -- including most alarmingly, children -- is a growing, seemingly unstoppable phenomenon. We are warned that our children, as a result, may not live as long and productive a life as their predecessors have done. And that effectively turns on its head normal expectations that each succeeding generation will live a better and longer and more productive life than the past ones.

Children, with growing obesity rates, are susceptible to life-damaging conditions that have traditionally been associated with aging; what was once called adult-onset diabetes afflicting sedentary, overweight middle-aged and older people is now raging among the young, their hormonal systems out of whack with what nature's convention intend. Diabetes ravages the bodies of those living with it, affecting eyesight, nerves, the heart and kidneys.

We know, because we are told, and we aren't completely stupid, that we are responsible to act as intelligent stewards of our bodies, to bring them gracefully into old age. That we can prevent or hold off the impacts of organ failure and general body degradation, through healthful living. And though it is true that the triumvirate of inheritance, environment and lifestyle all play a part in what we can ourselves achieve on our own behalf, and we can do little about genetics, be wary about environment factors, and truly take charge of lifestyle choices, few of us practise what is preached to us.

It is simply too easy, with the advent of convenience products masquerading as nutritious food, to simply succumb to the allure of ease of or no food preparation at all, and the substitution of whole foods to 'food products', taking in far more salt, sugar, fat and intrusive chemicals than any healthy living organism can cope with.

New data indicate that one of the most deadly of all cancers, the one that brought Christopher Hitchens to silence -- cancer of the esophagus - esophageal adenocarcinoma -- is steadily growing in incidence, as the population rapidly gains weight.  Esophageal adenocarcinoma forms in the part of the esophagus closest to the stomach and has doubled in Canada in the past 20 years.

Belly fat in particular seems to increase the incidence of gastroesophageal-reflux disease - chronic heartburn - that sends stomach acid up into the lower esophagus and represents a major risk factor in this type of morbidly deadly cancer. A study published in the Canadian Journal of Gastroenterology indicates that this type of cancer increased by about 4% a year for men and at the same rate for women from 1986 to 2006. That kind of cancer increase is dramatically unusual.

Esophageal cancer is increasing in incidence throughout the developed world, with one of the lowest survival rates of any types of cancer. The five-year survival rate ranges to 80% with early detection, but there's the rub; half of all new diagnoses fall into the most advanced stage, once the cancer has spread.

Abdominal fat is linked with higher circulating levels of substances causing inflammation. Chronic tissue inflammation, according to researchers, plays a role in the development of many types of cancer. Diets focusing on red meat and surfeit with saturated fats remain risk factors for both upper and lower types of esophageal cancer; diets heavy on fresh fruits and vegetables in contrast, have a protective effect.