The first problem is a society that doesn't, inherently, teach happiness to its newest members - we are reared with the idea that hard work and submission are t

The first problem is a society that doesn't, inherently, teach happiness to its newest members - we are reared with the idea that hard work and submission are the rules of this game. That in turn produces a large population of generally crabby, unhappy, and dependent people (dependent in the sense that everyone looks to everyone else for their happiness - people blame governments, people blame their spouses, for doing something that makes them unhappy). Junk food, drugs, sitcoms, and strip malls are all the result of people discovering that a number of substances and emotional states can be cheaply produced (a result of industrialization/modernization) that excite the nervous system. Many often excite dopamine release in the brain which makes a lot of it addictive. This is also a product of population growth - substances that are cheap and easy to produce make feeding and keeping alive a larger population much easier. You therefore, will always, have a large cross section of any given modern population that can only stay alive by consuming cheap sustenance that excites their nervous system to mask how nutritionally poor it is. Only sad thing is, it usually keeps them there. I consider MSG and Wheat (the grain, yes) to be far worse that narcotics. Obesity isn't the government's fault. It isn't the corporation's fault even, they are simply the result of a condition. The fault is in the people. People need to start taking responsibility for their own happiness - as they do that, the conditions will improve. But it is the individual's journey, not the group's.