
Study: 49% of American Adults Predicted to Be Obese by 2030 - atlasunshrugged
https://www.axios.com/american-adults-obese-2030-d19cb8c8-67d9-4963-9571-78d8fbf3e8d4.html
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arkades
Increasing amounts of data suggest that obesity is enormously more complicated
than "willpower." I feel like studies like this are a strong indicator of
that: the entire generation doesn't just, you know, lose willpower overnight.
Nor is it likely to be genetic; a species doesn't flip a switch like that.

But point out the amount of endocrine-disrupting chemicals we stick in our
environment, the amount of processed food we use to replace real food, the way
our built environment actively pushes people away from fresh produce - well,
duh, but who would ever do anything about that?

I went back to school for a masters in public health at one point. The very
first day of behavioral psychology our professor chose to discuss food deserts
- the phenomenon in which grocery stories target high SES enclaves, leaving
most lower SES folks without access to fresh groceries. The campus was
situated, like most urban campuses are, in a so-so type of area. This was a
major northeastern city, not some obscure nowhere.

He cut the class into quarters, gave each quarter a $15, a short shopping list
(banana, lettuce, milk, chicken breast) and a cardinal direction. Go forth, my
children, and return unto me within two hours.

Not a single one of us managed it. Three groups managed to find a bodega or
something and came back with, say, milk and a shitty banana. One group managed
to make it to a fancy market on the edge of the hood where it's beginning to
gentrify - but couldn't afford the full list. (Never mind how unrealistic it
is to walk almost an hour in each direction to come back with a full load of
groceries.)

I actually lived near campus. I lived that experience. I had to pay a premium
for peapod so that I could have, you know, fresh produce. If I'd run out of
food and couldn't wait for peapod, my only reasonable choices were a bodega
full of crap and a 7/11.

Meanwhile, when I was in Europe, there were tiny hole-in-the-wall shops
stocked with fresh nearly-everything nearly everywhere. In London I could
always swing by on the way back to my apartment without going more than five
minutes out of my way to grab some fresh salad vegetables; in Madrid the same.
In Athens I had to go almost _ten_ minutes out of my way.

Of /course/ we're fat, and getting fatter.

~~~
atlasunshrugged
Totally agree, I'm from the States but the last few years I've been living in
Europe but right now I'm in LA for a few meetings and staying near the
airport. It's obviously a lower income area and it's absolutely shocking in
comparison to Europe - there are only gas stations and fast food restaurants
and the occasional corner store. Everything is incredibly expensive except for
the fast food places which aren't exactly the paragons of healthy food
production. Also - no banks. I almost always use a card but I wanted some cash
just in case and realized that in this area every ATM charges $5 and up as a
usage fee and there's no banks. Contrast that against where I had a meeting in
a posh area in Santa Monica and there are plenty of banks with free ATMs and
restaurants serving healthy (although super expensive) food.

I think the US is also in a tough spot with our food regulations for quality -
our frozen foods, sodas, etc. are just packed with garbage fillers and the
regulators don't care to require food manufacturers to produce healthier food.
Lots of things you would never think needed sugar inexplicably have sugar. Of
course, you can say this is a consumer preference thing and the manufacturers
are fulfilling a demand (and wouldn't be wrong - most people like
sugary/flavorful stuff because we're really bad at discounting how much we
value being healthy in the future vs. a tasty food right now).

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atlasunshrugged
Link to the study:
[https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMsa1909301](https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMsa1909301)

