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1960–1962: About 13% of adults were obese 1971–1974: About 5% of children were obese 1980: 13.4% of adults were obese 2008: 34.3% of adults were obese 2009–

1960–1962: About 13% of adults were obese 1971–1974: About 5% of children were obese 1980: 13.4% of adults were obese 2008: 34.3% of adults were obese 2009–2010: 36% of adults were obese 2014: 36.5% of adults were obese 2017–2018: 42.4% of adults were obese A truly astonishing set of data. I assume this has never happened in human history at this scale.

tsunamifury 2y ago
We are dying of abundance
- ponector 2y ago
  Mostly Americans and some island nations. Many developed countries have much healthier people.
  - Mistletoe 2y ago
    I decided to check for Finland, a country I’ve often fantasized about moving to since it often scores very highly on happiness maps. > As of December 2023, Finland's obesity rate is 27% for men and 30% for women, with a body mass index (BMI) above the obesity threshold of 30 kg/m2. This is higher than the EU average and has increased significantly in recent decades. Obesity is most prevalent among people aged 40–64, with one in three in this age group being obese. Abdominal obesity is also common, affecting almost half of adults. It seems to be quite bad other places too.
    - protomolecule 2y ago
      >Finland ... often scores very highly on happiness maps. A Finnish comedian has something to say about that) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gt94AnJ8urA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gt94AnJ8urA
    - ghnws 2y ago
      Sedetary life style combined with lots of sausages, red meat an butter does that to a people. Alcohol is also a huge problem in Finland. Not uncommon for men to drink beer daily.
  - reducesuffering 2y ago
    It's getting worse everywhere: https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/share-of-adults-defined-as-obese?tab=chart&country=USA~WHO_AMR~WHO_EUR~WHO_AFR~WHO_EMR~WHO_SEAR~WHO_WPAC https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/share-of-adults-defined-a...
  - prepend 2y ago
    It’s a function of wealth. As nations increase their wealth, their obesity goes up. Except for Japan, they seem to have it figured out. But all the Euro nations have also seen obesity spike over the same time period. Just not as much as the US because they aren’t as wealthy.
    - reducesuffering 2y ago
      Not quite: https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/share-of-adults-defined-as-obese?tab=chart&country=USA~FRA~DEU~GRC~GBR~ESP~ITA~SWE~POL~PRT~UKR~SRB~CHE https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/share-of-adults-defined-a... Sweden and Switzerland are the lowest obesity of that list while being of the highest wealth. While Ukraine has been near the top with the lowest wealth. Greece and France are also outliers.
      - tsunamifury 2y ago
        It seems to be actually a curve where as you approach wealth you get more overweight but after a certain point you become more healthy again. Probably due to changes in burden of time and stress and more refined taste in food and a focus on fitness when you reach true wealth.
      - prepend 2y ago
        Sweden’s obesity increased from 10% to 20% as their wealth increased. Switzerland from 5% to 20%. My point stands. I’m saying it’s impossible to have high obesity, but that it’s a function of wealth.
        reducesuffering 2y ago
        While wealth is involved in food abundance aspects, it’s not just a function of wealth as Greece’s obesity increased from 2010-2020 while their wealth decreased. And the wealthier parts of the US are the least obese.
        prepend 2y ago
vkazanov 2y ago
Is this true? Obesity epidemic still getting worse..?
sph 2y ago
Let me remind readers what happened in 1960-1990: the big saturated fat scare, and the push towards low fat (i.e. high sugar) diets. People STILL to this day are afraid of eating butter, yet consume margarine, seed oils (vegetable oils are the worst type of food known to man) and hundreds of grams in sugar EVERY DAY. And in many places, I bet in here too, this is still controversial and the only mode of dieting people know is eating less fat and less meat, as if they ever were the problem. Keto and low carb diets are still described as "fad diets" on Wikipedia, and I wonder whose silly agenda they are pushing. If it is the one of the official health dept of Western governments, it should be clear that what is claimed to be healthy it is obviously not, and made even more dubious due to major lobbying from Big Food. The same Big Food that has just won with the popularity of GLP-1 agonists: why eat healthy when you can eat packaged crap and take a pill?
- shafyy 2y ago
  > vegetable oils are the worst type of food known to man Of course, this is wrong.
  - sph 2y ago
    I knew I had to qualify for the pedantics. Vegetable seed oils are the worst type of food known to man, and I stand by it. The research is just a google away. Vegetable pulp oil (i.e. coconut, extra virgin olive oil, etc.) is alright, if not beneficial.
    - rafaelero 2y ago
      Any RCT's showing it is incredibly more dangerous than butter or other vegetable oils?
      - smilliken 2y ago
        Yes, there was the Minnesota Coronary Survey which was an RCT on polyunsaturated fats vs saturated fats. It was launched intending to prove the opposite conclusion, but ended up proving that polyunsaturated fats cause significantly higher mortality rates than saturated fats. It's hard to do better than this as a study because it's an RCT that did not rely on self-reported data (it was conducted in hospitals and nursing homes), and it measured a variable that's challenging to fake and relevant to health (death).
kwhitefoot 2y ago
The 1960 to 1974 numbers seem rather high to me. I was born in the south of England in 1955 and I rarely saw anyone who would these days even be described as fat. let alone obese. Certainly not one in eight adults and absolutely not one in twenty children Are these statistics world or US?
- Ekaros 2y ago
  Lower bar of obesity is not actually that fat. I think with decent beer belly you could be there.
  - Spooky23 2y ago
    It’s a ridiculous measure. I’m training for a half marathon, and appear skinny. I’d need to lose another 30 pounds to be “normal” because I’m tall.
    - disgruntledphd2 2y ago
      BMI is only useful both for sedentary people, and on a population level. It's crazy how often the metric is used when it shouldn't be.
      - Auracle 2y ago
        That’s pretty wrong. The BMI cutoffs were established in the 90s when people were less sedentary than today. Sure, if you’re a bodybuilder it’s wrong. For the vast majority of the population it’s wrong the other way. It’s not the most accurate thing, but it’s close enough for most people.
        vikingerik 2y ago
        This is correct. BMI is only wrong if you have pro athlete or bodybuilder levels of muscle. None of us internet armchair jockeys have that. If you're within two standard deviations of the mean (95% of the population) for muscle mass and general body structure, BMI is accurate enough, and if it says you're overweight then you are. Everyone wants to think they're exceptional but hardly anyone actually is. It's pretty shocking how little food the human body actually needs and how little weight you actually need to carry, and anything over that is just stressing the circulatory and muscle systems. (And providing more cells from which cancer can potentially start, and more energy to feed it if it does.)
deleted 2y ago
[deleted]
pjc50 2y ago
> I assume this has never happened in human history at this scale. We never had synthetic nitrogen fertilizers before. This is the first era where humanity does not have to experience widespread, frequent, deadly, hunger. This is also why there are eight billion people on the planet: we have enough calories to support that many. There were only 1.7 billion people when the Haber process was invented.
- amanaplanacanal 2y ago
  There was not widespread hunger in the US in 1970. This has nothing to do with the obesity epidemic in the US.
  - rbetts 2y ago
    While cost of food (as a percentage of income) has declined significantly, hunger is a real issue in the US and shouldn't be downplayed. Currently, in the US, there an estimated 40M people and 13M children at risk or experiencing hunger: https://www.ers.usda.gov/publications/pub-details?pubid=107702 https://www.ers.usda.gov/publications/pub-details?pubid=1077...
    - amanaplanacanal 2y ago
      Although true, it still has nothing to do with the obesity rate. My comment was about the idea that it was a lack of food availability that prevented obesity before about 1980.
bluedino 2y ago
There's a similar decline in cigarette smoking but it doesn't explain the kids gaining weight.
- toomuchtodo 2y ago
  Poor diet, less movement. https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/obesity-prevention-source/global-obesity-trends-in-children/ https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/obesity-prevention-source/globa...

tsunamifury 2y ago

We are dying of abundance

ponector 2y ago
Mostly Americans and some island nations. Many developed countries have much healthier people.
- Mistletoe 2y ago
  I decided to check for Finland, a country I’ve often fantasized about moving to since it often scores very highly on happiness maps. > As of December 2023, Finland's obesity rate is 27% for men and 30% for women, with a body mass index (BMI) above the obesity threshold of 30 kg/m2. This is higher than the EU average and has increased significantly in recent decades. Obesity is most prevalent among people aged 40–64, with one in three in this age group being obese. Abdominal obesity is also common, affecting almost half of adults. It seems to be quite bad other places too.
  - protomolecule 2y ago
    >Finland ... often scores very highly on happiness maps. A Finnish comedian has something to say about that) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gt94AnJ8urA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gt94AnJ8urA
  - ghnws 2y ago
    Sedetary life style combined with lots of sausages, red meat an butter does that to a people. Alcohol is also a huge problem in Finland. Not uncommon for men to drink beer daily.
- reducesuffering 2y ago
  It's getting worse everywhere: https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/share-of-adults-defined-as-obese?tab=chart&country=USA~WHO_AMR~WHO_EUR~WHO_AFR~WHO_EMR~WHO_SEAR~WHO_WPAC https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/share-of-adults-defined-a...
- prepend 2y ago
  It’s a function of wealth. As nations increase their wealth, their obesity goes up. Except for Japan, they seem to have it figured out. But all the Euro nations have also seen obesity spike over the same time period. Just not as much as the US because they aren’t as wealthy.
  - reducesuffering 2y ago
    Not quite: https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/share-of-adults-defined-as-obese?tab=chart&country=USA~FRA~DEU~GRC~GBR~ESP~ITA~SWE~POL~PRT~UKR~SRB~CHE https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/share-of-adults-defined-a... Sweden and Switzerland are the lowest obesity of that list while being of the highest wealth. While Ukraine has been near the top with the lowest wealth. Greece and France are also outliers.
    - tsunamifury 2y ago
      It seems to be actually a curve where as you approach wealth you get more overweight but after a certain point you become more healthy again. Probably due to changes in burden of time and stress and more refined taste in food and a focus on fitness when you reach true wealth.
    - prepend 2y ago
      Sweden’s obesity increased from 10% to 20% as their wealth increased. Switzerland from 5% to 20%. My point stands. I’m saying it’s impossible to have high obesity, but that it’s a function of wealth.
      - reducesuffering 2y ago
        While wealth is involved in food abundance aspects, it’s not just a function of wealth as Greece’s obesity increased from 2010-2020 while their wealth decreased. And the wealthier parts of the US are the least obese.
        prepend 2y ago

vkazanov 2y ago

Is this true? Obesity epidemic still getting worse..?

sph 2y ago

Let me remind readers what happened in 1960-1990: the big saturated fat scare, and the push towards low fat (i.e. high sugar) diets. People STILL to this day are afraid of eating butter, yet consume margarine, seed oils (vegetable oils are the worst type of food known to man) and hundreds of grams in sugar EVERY DAY. And in many places, I bet in here too, this is still controversial and the only mode of dieting people know is eating less fat and less meat, as if they ever were the problem. Keto and low carb diets are still described as "fad diets" on Wikipedia, and I wonder whose silly agenda they are pushing. If it is the one of the official health dept of Western governments, it should be clear that what is claimed to be healthy it is obviously not, and made even more dubious due to major lobbying from Big Food. The same Big Food that has just won with the popularity of GLP-1 agonists: why eat healthy when you can eat packaged crap and take a pill?

shafyy 2y ago
> vegetable oils are the worst type of food known to man Of course, this is wrong.
- sph 2y ago
  I knew I had to qualify for the pedantics. Vegetable seed oils are the worst type of food known to man, and I stand by it. The research is just a google away. Vegetable pulp oil (i.e. coconut, extra virgin olive oil, etc.) is alright, if not beneficial.
  - rafaelero 2y ago
    Any RCT's showing it is incredibly more dangerous than butter or other vegetable oils?
    - smilliken 2y ago
      Yes, there was the Minnesota Coronary Survey which was an RCT on polyunsaturated fats vs saturated fats. It was launched intending to prove the opposite conclusion, but ended up proving that polyunsaturated fats cause significantly higher mortality rates than saturated fats. It's hard to do better than this as a study because it's an RCT that did not rely on self-reported data (it was conducted in hospitals and nursing homes), and it measured a variable that's challenging to fake and relevant to health (death).

kwhitefoot 2y ago

The 1960 to 1974 numbers seem rather high to me. I was born in the south of England in 1955 and I rarely saw anyone who would these days even be described as fat. let alone obese. Certainly not one in eight adults and absolutely not one in twenty children Are these statistics world or US?

Ekaros 2y ago
Lower bar of obesity is not actually that fat. I think with decent beer belly you could be there.
- Spooky23 2y ago
  It’s a ridiculous measure. I’m training for a half marathon, and appear skinny. I’d need to lose another 30 pounds to be “normal” because I’m tall.
  - disgruntledphd2 2y ago
    BMI is only useful both for sedentary people, and on a population level. It's crazy how often the metric is used when it shouldn't be.
    - Auracle 2y ago
      That’s pretty wrong. The BMI cutoffs were established in the 90s when people were less sedentary than today. Sure, if you’re a bodybuilder it’s wrong. For the vast majority of the population it’s wrong the other way. It’s not the most accurate thing, but it’s close enough for most people.
      - vikingerik 2y ago
        This is correct. BMI is only wrong if you have pro athlete or bodybuilder levels of muscle. None of us internet armchair jockeys have that. If you're within two standard deviations of the mean (95% of the population) for muscle mass and general body structure, BMI is accurate enough, and if it says you're overweight then you are. Everyone wants to think they're exceptional but hardly anyone actually is. It's pretty shocking how little food the human body actually needs and how little weight you actually need to carry, and anything over that is just stressing the circulatory and muscle systems. (And providing more cells from which cancer can potentially start, and more energy to feed it if it does.)

deleted 2y ago

[deleted]

pjc50 2y ago

> I assume this has never happened in human history at this scale. We never had synthetic nitrogen fertilizers before. This is the first era where humanity does not have to experience widespread, frequent, deadly, hunger. This is also why there are eight billion people on the planet: we have enough calories to support that many. There were only 1.7 billion people when the Haber process was invented.

amanaplanacanal 2y ago
There was not widespread hunger in the US in 1970. This has nothing to do with the obesity epidemic in the US.
- rbetts 2y ago
  While cost of food (as a percentage of income) has declined significantly, hunger is a real issue in the US and shouldn't be downplayed. Currently, in the US, there an estimated 40M people and 13M children at risk or experiencing hunger: https://www.ers.usda.gov/publications/pub-details?pubid=107702 https://www.ers.usda.gov/publications/pub-details?pubid=1077...
  - amanaplanacanal 2y ago
    Although true, it still has nothing to do with the obesity rate. My comment was about the idea that it was a lack of food availability that prevented obesity before about 1980.

bluedino 2y ago

There's a similar decline in cigarette smoking but it doesn't explain the kids gaining weight.

toomuchtodo 2y ago
Poor diet, less movement. https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/obesity-prevention-source/global-obesity-trends-in-children/ https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/obesity-prevention-source/globa...