I think combining fairly elementary economics and physics can reveal the cause of obesity epidemics. Consumers seek to maximize the taste/cost ratio where cos

I think combining fairly elementary economics and physics can reveal the cause of obesity epidemics. Consumers seek to maximize the taste/cost ratio where cost = the monetary cost of food + time to prepare Sure you can eat healthy for cheap if you're willing to eat things that are not that tasty or if you're willing to spend time learning to prepare foods and then preparing them on a regular basis. I'd really like to see the economics behind that - like most things, stuff produced in mass is "cheaper" than stuff we make ourselves, maybe not in terms of monetary costs, but definitely in terms of labor savings. The tastiest things tend to pack a big caloric impact, which makes sense from an evolutionary point of view. Cheaper tasty calories lead to greater caloric intake, which often occurs at the same time an economy is shifting to less labor intensive work. This creates a perfect storm where caloric expenditure is declining at the same time caloric intake is increasing, leading to an obesity epidemic. It's simple physics, conservation of energy/matter. The energy intake of humans increases, but their expenditure declines, the surplus has to go somewhere. That somewhere is our fat stores.