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I previously made the observation that global warming induced nutrient density loss correlates with the mammal obesity trend: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?

I previously made the observation that global warming induced nutrient density loss correlates with the mammal obesity trend: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18949373 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18949373 Everyone here commenting about the great news about how yields have increased is totally wrong. Droughts, prolonged heat waves, and flooding will wipe out whatever small percentage in yields from higher atmospheric CO2 have/will result. Not to mention the health effects: people that are paradoxically at the same time obese and malnourished.

hyperpallium 7y ago
One solution is slow-growing plants - domesticated plants are bred for yield.
nosianu 7y ago
> people that are paradoxically at the same time obese and malnourished I don't see the paradox? "Energy" and "nutrients" both are in food but they are not the same (okay, unless somebody wants to start arguing about word definitions in which case I refer them here: https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/7X2j8HAkWdmMoS8PE/disputing-definitions https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/7X2j8HAkWdmMoS8PE/disputing-... -- you guys know exactly what I mean). If your body wants (certain) nutrients but they are always accompanied by way too much energy that ends up being stored as fat than you end up hungry as well as fat. No paradox. Also using "energy" and "nutrients" like I just did: https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/fs176 https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/fs176 Many discussions about obesity are accompanied by comments "they just need to eat less because calories in > calories out - it's just physics" ignore that energy is just one of many aspects of why we eat.
- primroot 7y ago
  "A calorie is a calorie" violates the second law of thermodynamics https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC506782/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC506782/
  - wysifnwyg 7y ago
    That's really hilarious that the article title is completely in rejection to the conclusion. I don't see many articles that do the same in the medical field.
- kaitai 7y ago
  I think you & the parent probably agree; nutrition research has traditionally treated obesity and malnourishment as opposites as the combination has been rare in history but indeed there is not a contradiction.
- jcranberry 7y ago
  A paradox is just something which is "apparently" false or contradictory but in actuality true. The paradox is just that you would expect someone who's well-fed to the point of being obese to at least have enough nutrients to be healthy.
kaitai 7y ago
Here's an interesting article looking at net decreases in yield of most of the top 10 staple food crops in the world. It includes sorghum and wheat and more, and has a bit more discussion of geographic shifts, for instance. https://www.minnpost.com/environment/2019/07/climate-change-is-affecting-crop-yields-and-reducing-global-food-supplies/ https://www.minnpost.com/environment/2019/07/climate-change-...

hyperpallium 7y ago

One solution is slow-growing plants - domesticated plants are bred for yield.

nosianu 7y ago

> people that are paradoxically at the same time obese and malnourished I don't see the paradox? "Energy" and "nutrients" both are in food but they are not the same (okay, unless somebody wants to start arguing about word definitions in which case I refer them here: https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/7X2j8HAkWdmMoS8PE/disputing-definitions https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/7X2j8HAkWdmMoS8PE/disputing-... -- you guys know exactly what I mean). If your body wants (certain) nutrients but they are always accompanied by way too much energy that ends up being stored as fat than you end up hungry as well as fat. No paradox. Also using "energy" and "nutrients" like I just did: https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/fs176 https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/fs176 Many discussions about obesity are accompanied by comments "they just need to eat less because calories in > calories out - it's just physics" ignore that energy is just one of many aspects of why we eat.

primroot 7y ago
"A calorie is a calorie" violates the second law of thermodynamics https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC506782/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC506782/
- wysifnwyg 7y ago
  That's really hilarious that the article title is completely in rejection to the conclusion. I don't see many articles that do the same in the medical field.
kaitai 7y ago
I think you & the parent probably agree; nutrition research has traditionally treated obesity and malnourishment as opposites as the combination has been rare in history but indeed there is not a contradiction.
jcranberry 7y ago
A paradox is just something which is "apparently" false or contradictory but in actuality true. The paradox is just that you would expect someone who's well-fed to the point of being obese to at least have enough nutrients to be healthy.

kaitai 7y ago

Here's an interesting article looking at net decreases in yield of most of the top 10 staple food crops in the world. It includes sorghum and wheat and more, and has a bit more discussion of geographic shifts, for instance. https://www.minnpost.com/environment/2019/07/climate-change-is-affecting-crop-yields-and-reducing-global-food-supplies/ https://www.minnpost.com/environment/2019/07/climate-change-...