[sk11001]

> We have an obesity epidemic and now rather than addressing the root problems that lead to the obesity epidemic we have an expensive highly profitable pharmaceutical solution.

They work well and have a good safety profile. For many people they are the only thing that works. Seems like a good thing that we have them.

[mdgrech23]

We have an obesity epidemic because our food is poor quality and loaded with calories. It's loaded with calories b/c it's cheaper to make it taste good by adding sugar or oil rather than using quality ingredients. People don't have time to cook homemade meals b/c they're working multiple jobs. They have long commutes and work long hours and don't have the energy to cook when they get home. A pill to curb your appetite is just a bandaid. Your appetite isn't the problem. It's our food and work culture that is designed to benefit the business owners not us.

[sk11001]

> Your appetite isn't the problem.

1. We have people who live in the same culture as obese people and do not get obese.

2. We have people who have stress free occupations and can afford the healthiest food in the world and are obese despite of it.

3. It's also true that a couple of centuries ago we didn't have obesity.

Based on these observations, it's obvious that looking only at the culture is not enough. You need to look at biological differences between humans to understand why some of them respond to culture in specific ways. People don't have the same appetite, people with higher appetite are more susceptible to becoming obese.

[toomuchtodo]

> Your appetite isn't the problem.

GLP-1 agonists: and I took that personally

The hormone imbalance is what causes the chase after unhealthy food, it’s a bug in the human around executive function. Certainly, promote healthy food, as well as efficient and robust access to said healthy food (while de-incentivizing garbage macros), but let us not pretend the demand isn't because of the biology.

https://recursiveadaptation.com/p/the-growing-scientific-cas...

[sim7c00]

I meet many people from rural areas in 'poorer' countries (sorry for that wording it might be wrong) and they all say the same thing. The food in 'more developed' countries 'stinks'.

Most of them want to go home with this as one of the primary reasons. They grow food themselves at home, and that's good food. changing to this bad stuff is super disagreeable to their minds and bodies.

[sickofparadox]

It's infinitely funny (and disappointing) to me as an American that one of our top cultural exports, almost synonymous with American Hegemony, Coca-Cola tastes like trash here compared to other countries. Its to the point that people will pay extra for "Mexican Coke" because it uses actual sugar.

[sim7c00]

Hehe yeah, it's even weird each country somewhat gets things 'to their taste' even though a lot of people don't like the taste... in my country certain Soups are soooo salty, my god. But in the neighbor country, it's nice and taste, and you might add salt because its lacking :'D

[WithinReason]

Japan has low obesity not because they solved an engineering problem.

The obesity epidemic is a societal problem. If you ask engineers (like the ones on HN) to solve it they come up with an engineering solution, which is a pill. Engineers can't solve a social problem.

[sim7c00]

if you don't address a root-cause, you will end up with a mess of patches and spaghetti to work around it which will just grow and grow. it's literally an unhealthy way to address problems in any system, regardless of how effective the patch is.

it's not bad we have the patch, indeed it's a good thing, but the patch should not remove the need to address the root-cause.

[mdgrech23]

preach

[antisthenes]

> They work well and have a good safety profile. For many people they are the only thing that works. Seems like a good thing that we have them.

What a blissful world to live in, where you never have to consider second-order effects and can be hyper-optimistic about everything.

I wonder what drug it takes to view the world in such a lens.