There are two examples here, and two documentaries are forthcoming.

Sosa's diary (PDF file)
http://www.cei.org/pages/debunk/pdfs/debunktotal.pdf

A quote from Sosa's diary:
"We're going to sue them and sue them and sue them. And somewhere a jury's going to buy this, and then the floodgates are going to open." - Trial lawyer John Bahnzaf referring to the potential cash cow of obesity lawsuits.

Article from the National Review
http://www.nationalreview.com/stuttaford/stuttaford200404290832.asp

Soso Whaley, a woman in her mid-50's in okay. Ate solely at McDonald's for 1 mo

vs

Morgan Spurlock, a man in his mid-30's, vigorous and strapping. Ate solely at McDonald's for 1 mo

Whaley lost 7.5 pounds as of day 22 (the latest diary entry) and reported that she felt pretty good. Poor Spurlock, on the other hand, had a tough time. He gained 25 pounds, his cholesterol soared from 165 to 230, and his body "basically fell apart of the course of thirty days." He claimed to have suffered from headaches, vomiting, depression, an increased waistline, decreased libido, had his face turn splotchy (oh the horror), and in the words of his doctor, his liver had "turned into pate."


Why the difference? Whaley carefully counted calories (aimed for 1800 per day) but still ate widely from the menu. Drank only bottled water outside of McDonalds and tried to sample every item on the menu (some items are regional, however, like Key Lime Pie down in Florida). Spurlock, however, did not control his calories. In fact, he exercised no self control at all. On purpose, whenever a McDonalds employee asked him if he'd like to Super Size, he supersized. But he wouldn't ask to be supersized. He also had to consume every product from McDonalds menu at least once, and had to scrape his plate, er tray clean every time.

In other words, the woman who took actions to protect her health had a fine month subsisting on nothing but McDonalds. The man who deliberately didn't take responsibility for himself had a pretty poor month.

Whaley limited herself to a little over 1800 Calories a day and did fine. In fact, here's a quote from the NR article on what she ate (she doesn't like McD's fries, however)

By the 14th, she had dined (I've seen the pile of receipts, neatly collected, dated, and filed) on Crispy Chicken; Chicken McNuggets (six-pack and ten); Chicken McGrill; McChicken; for a touch of the exotic, Hot 'n Spicy McChicken; and, in a welcome break for the nation's poultry, hamburger, double cheeseburger, Quarter Pounder with Cheese, Big Mac, Big N' Tasty with Cheese (no, I have no idea what that is), and Filet-O-Fish; Egg McMuffin, a bewildering selection of McGriddles (bacon, egg and cheese; sausage, egg, and cheese; and the ascetic sausage alone), hash browns, hotcakes, the wildly multicultural sausage breakfast burrito, Fruit 'n Yogurt Parfait ("I love that," sighs Soso), hot fudge sundae, a flurry of McFlurries (Butterfinger, M&M, Oreo — the Nestle Crunch is yet to come) and much, much more.

She is also doing a movie about her experience, in response to Spurlock's movie Super Size Me, which will be out May 7.

Whalely also recommends visiting http://junkscience.com/

[Edited 2004-04-30 05:52:10]