5 ms·

It's impressive, because it's as if in America, we've figured out how to design a system that gets 73% of us to agree to do whatever we are doing to be overweig

It's impressive, because it's as if in America, we've figured out how to design a system that gets 73% of us to agree to do whatever we are doing to be overweight. That's really something when you think of it in terms of a population that is otherwise divided and polarized.

inglor_cz 6y ago
Our firmware back from the ape era contains instructions to enjoy anything sweet and/or fatty. Of course, this worked back in the Paleolithic, when you found something sweet and/or fatty several times a year. It becomes a bad loophole for metabolic diseases when sweet and fatty things are everywhere and cheap.
- twblalock 6y ago
  There are plenty of other countries where sweet and fatty things are cheap, yet they don't have the same obesity rate as the US.
  - inglor_cz 6y ago
    Everyone is slowly getting there, some countries (UK, Arab countries) faster, but the development seems to be unstoppable. In my country, never particularly known for being thin, I can see a definitive negative development since the 1990s. Morbidly fat teenagers were basically nonexistent then. Now you meet them all the time. IMHO the worst offenders are soft drinks, which have zero satiating effect and consist of a mass of liquid sugar. Coca-cola used to be expensive here in the 1990s (compared to a median wage), now it is cheaper than beer, our typical lower class drink.
    - rsynnott 6y ago
      In the last few years, a number of countries have brought in sugar taxes that have in many cases caused soft drink manufacturers to push the zero calorie versions of their products, or reduce sugar in their normal ones (particularly common where there's a two-tier tax; I think about the only soft drink that's still in the top tier here is Coca Cola, but even they have been heavily pushing their Coke Zero product), or both. Will be interesting to see what impact this has.
    - treis 6y ago
      >Morbidly fat teenagers were basically nonexistent then. This is always striking to see in movies with the "fat" kid. As an example, look at Willy Wonka from 1971 and 2005 https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-37220788 https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-37220788 ['71 on the left] https://www.digitalspy.com/movies/a798428/what-tim-burton-charlie-and-the-chocolate-factory-young-cast-look-like-now/ https://www.digitalspy.com/movies/a798428/what-tim-burton-ch... [2005 on the left] The fat gluttonous kid from 1971 barely looks abnormal today. While the one from 2005 is morbidly obese.

inglor_cz 6y ago

Our firmware back from the ape era contains instructions to enjoy anything sweet and/or fatty. Of course, this worked back in the Paleolithic, when you found something sweet and/or fatty several times a year. It becomes a bad loophole for metabolic diseases when sweet and fatty things are everywhere and cheap.

twblalock 6y ago
There are plenty of other countries where sweet and fatty things are cheap, yet they don't have the same obesity rate as the US.
- inglor_cz 6y ago
  Everyone is slowly getting there, some countries (UK, Arab countries) faster, but the development seems to be unstoppable. In my country, never particularly known for being thin, I can see a definitive negative development since the 1990s. Morbidly fat teenagers were basically nonexistent then. Now you meet them all the time. IMHO the worst offenders are soft drinks, which have zero satiating effect and consist of a mass of liquid sugar. Coca-cola used to be expensive here in the 1990s (compared to a median wage), now it is cheaper than beer, our typical lower class drink.
  - rsynnott 6y ago
    In the last few years, a number of countries have brought in sugar taxes that have in many cases caused soft drink manufacturers to push the zero calorie versions of their products, or reduce sugar in their normal ones (particularly common where there's a two-tier tax; I think about the only soft drink that's still in the top tier here is Coca Cola, but even they have been heavily pushing their Coke Zero product), or both. Will be interesting to see what impact this has.
  - treis 6y ago
    >Morbidly fat teenagers were basically nonexistent then. This is always striking to see in movies with the "fat" kid. As an example, look at Willy Wonka from 1971 and 2005 https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-37220788 https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-37220788 ['71 on the left] https://www.digitalspy.com/movies/a798428/what-tim-burton-charlie-and-the-chocolate-factory-young-cast-look-like-now/ https://www.digitalspy.com/movies/a798428/what-tim-burton-ch... [2005 on the left] The fat gluttonous kid from 1971 barely looks abnormal today. While the one from 2005 is morbidly obese.