this post was submitted on 17 Nov 2024
342 points (98.6% liked)

News

23300 readers
4418 users here now

Welcome to the News community!

Rules:

1. Be civil


Attack the argument, not the person. No racism/sexism/bigotry. Good faith argumentation only. This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban. Do not respond to rule-breaking content; report it and move on.


2. All posts should contain a source (url) that is as reliable and unbiased as possible and must only contain one link.


Obvious right or left wing sources will be removed at the mods discretion. We have an actively updated blocklist, which you can see here: https://lemmy.world/post/2246130 if you feel like any website is missing, contact the mods. Supporting links can be added in comments or posted seperately but not to the post body.


3. No bots, spam or self-promotion.


Only approved bots, which follow the guidelines for bots set by the instance, are allowed.


4. Post titles should be the same as the article used as source.


Posts which titles don’t match the source won’t be removed, but the autoMod will notify you, and if your title misrepresents the original article, the post will be deleted. If the site changed their headline, the bot might still contact you, just ignore it, we won’t delete your post.


5. Only recent news is allowed.


Posts must be news from the most recent 30 days.


6. All posts must be news articles.


No opinion pieces, Listicles, editorials or celebrity gossip is allowed. All posts will be judged on a case-by-case basis.


7. No duplicate posts.


If a source you used was already posted by someone else, the autoMod will leave a message. Please remove your post if the autoMod is correct. If the post that matches your post is very old, we refer you to rule 5.


8. Misinformation is prohibited.


Misinformation / propaganda is strictly prohibited. Any comment or post containing or linking to misinformation will be removed. If you feel that your post has been removed in error, credible sources must be provided.


9. No link shorteners.


The auto mod will contact you if a link shortener is detected, please delete your post if they are right.


10. Don't copy entire article in your post body


For copyright reasons, you are not allowed to copy an entire article into your post body. This is an instance wide rule, that is strictly enforced in this community.

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
 

Summary

A new Lancet study reveals nearly three-quarters of U.S. adults are overweight or obese, a sharp rise from just over half in 1990.

Obesity among adults doubled to over 40%, while rates among girls and women aged 15–24 nearly tripled to 29%.

The study highlights significant health risks, including diabetes, heart disease, and shortened life expectancy, alongside projected medical costs of up to $9.1 trillion over the next decade.

Experts stress obesity’s complex causes—genetic, environmental, and social—and call for structural reforms like food subsidies, taxes on sugary drinks, and expanded treatment access.

Non-paywall link

top 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] GrayBackgroundMusic@lemm.ee 2 points 1 hour ago

Social/environmental - life is fucking terrible and I have to take anxiety meds to survive it without panicking and breaking down. My last meds made me hungry CONSTANTLY. Sadly, I didn't know it was the meds until about 3 months ago. New med calms the anxiety and doesn't make me starving all the time.

I am not built for modern society.

[–] Omega_Jimes@lemmy.ca 1 points 1 hour ago

I mean, yes, but also I have issues with BMI.

But also yes, look at old films or photos of crowds. North Americans are a heavy people.

[–] MellowYellow13@lemmy.world 16 points 4 hours ago* (last edited 4 hours ago) (1 children)

When I bring my rice and veggy curry to lunch I become a spectacle for everyone. Because they are all either ordering fast food, not eating, or just eating junk and snack food. This is a huge problem, why am I spectacle for doing something so basic?

There are actually microaggressions from people to me just because I eat healthy.

[–] BigBenis@lemmy.world 2 points 1 hour ago (1 children)

People hate being reminded that the conveniences they enjoy are unhealthy/unethical/etc. All it takes is somebody else choosing differently to trigger defensiveness and denialism. Rather than making changes to their own life they choose to ridicule those who are making better decisions.

[–] BonfireOvDreams@lemmy.ml 1 points 1 hour ago

Go Vegan :)

[–] Yerbouti@sh.itjust.works 25 points 7 hours ago

Under-educated overweight people with guns. Everything's gonna be alright.

[–] Sam_Bass@lemmy.world 4 points 5 hours ago (2 children)
[–] Wogi@lemmy.world 5 points 2 hours ago (2 children)

Yes that's how statistics work.

[–] underwire212@lemm.ee 5 points 2 hours ago (1 children)

Lmao yeah I’m not sure what the commenter is implying? The question we should be asking is if the polled population is representative of the general population.

Do they expect the study to poll the entire US population?

[–] stetech@lemmy.world 2 points 2 hours ago* (last edited 2 hours ago) (1 children)

I’m positive the Lancet will manage to produce a representative sample and sample size sufficient to ensure this

[–] Wogi@lemmy.world 3 points 1 hour ago

Ok so I looked in to their sources and boy, you're under selling it.

They used 130+ sources of 10's of thousands of surveyed people, each. Typical sample sizes were 70,000+.

This is a meta analysis. The number of people contributing to this analysis is wide enough to put to rest any doubt that it's a representative sample ten times over.

Arrogantly appending "polled" to those figures is like proudly proclaiming that teen pregnancies drop off sharply after age 19.

[–] Sam_Bass@lemmy.world 1 points 2 hours ago

Well 69 is actually closer to 2/3 anyway

[–] NikkiDimes@lemmy.world 1 points 3 hours ago (1 children)

Ok, thank you. I was seeing 3/4 (75%) and 40% and was very confused lol.

[–] Wogi@lemmy.world 3 points 2 hours ago

Overweight and obese are two different categories. 40% are obese. Nearly 75% are overweight or obese.

[–] Subtracty@lemmy.world 31 points 11 hours ago* (last edited 11 hours ago) (4 children)

I have noticed the general public is now very tolerant of sweet drinks. I know that is not the only problem. I was never allowed soda or coffee or sweet tea growing up, so don't have much of a tolerance for them now. But when I try popular coffees (pumpkin spice this or vanilla chai that) or cocktails at most restaurants, I am surprised that people don't send them back and ask for less sweetener.

As an infrequent treat, I can understand it. But if you are drinking that much sugar on a daily basis, it must seriously screw with your system. I am sure lots of people are drinking a huge amount of calories and don't register how different that is from past generations.

[–] TonyOstrich@lemmy.world 7 points 5 hours ago (1 children)

I(M) am an actually healthy weight (I believe I'm almost exactly average for my height and build for a man in the 60s or 70s), but my brain has absolutely been hijacked by sugar, and I can tell. Even avoiding over sweetened stuff for months and months I will still get cravings and having something I know a European would find sickeningly sweet I find is very similar to how junkies describe a relapse.

Despite all of that, I refuse to give in. I enjoy the freedom having a relatively healthy body gives me. Makes finding a partner with a similar mindset and goals hard though. It's worse than a Thanos snap, 3/4 of the population just gone.

[–] Queen___Bee@lemmy.world 4 points 4 hours ago

Tell me about it. The discipline it takes to not consume something the general public has been consuming as the norm is a struggle sometimes, but tasting the flavors I otherwise wouldn't notice from something not deathly sweetened is a plus. As well as better teeth. My parents also restricted sweet drinks to family trips and parties growing up, and I don't think I can thank them enough.

[–] ikidd@lemmy.world 3 points 5 hours ago

I like the edge off my coffee but I just use stevia, which is fine if you don't use a lot and get that tongue numbing sensation. Those novelty coffees are utterly disgustingly sweet, and its all sugar. I can't imagine drinking them, but I guess if everything you eat and drink is sweet, you wouldn't notice it.

load more comments (2 replies)
load more comments
view more: next ›