[cm2012]

Weight gain has basically happened across the whole developed world because cost per calorie has gotten so low that people just eat more calories on average. This is why semi-glutides are the first thing ever to reduce weight gain and actually make people lose weight because they encourage reduced consumption.

Don't need ultra-processed food to be unhealthy. Rich guys in the 1800s would get fat and get gout and all these issues from overconsumption. It's just they were the only ones who could back then.

[toasty228]

Yeah right... so obesity, diabetes, etc. skyrocketed in the US from the mid 80s because before the 80s americans were calorie constrained ? Really ?

We're talking 1980s, not 1880s by the way

[cm2012]

Yes not gonna pull it but there's data that shows calories got meaningfully cheaper and easier to access in the United States and more plentiful from the 1980s to the 2020s.

[xg15]

That shift might have been plausible if it happened in the 40s or 50s when the economy switched from war to consumption - but in the 80s? What kind of massive breakthrough in food production happened there that we mysteriously never heard of?

[treis]

Food as a % of income declined dramatically. This chart has it at 18% in 1960 declining to ~10% today.

https://www.ers.usda.gov/amber-waves/2020/november/average-s...

There were a ton of programs after WWII to improve the nutrition of the country. This largely meant raising calories to prevent malnutrition. And the 80s are as good a point as any other to where that succeeded.

[picofarad]

Aspartame

[toasty228]

Oh yeah, the same exact period during which ultra processed food was introduced to the mass... interesting...

[nickserv]

> Weight gain has basically happened across the whole developed world

Could it be that maybe, maybe, there is a link to this and the subject of the paper being discussed?