17 ms·

If it did US life expectancy wouldn't lower today than it was in 2008.

• philwelch 3y ago
  That’s mostly due to obesity, which is a consequence of the quantity and (flavor) quality of food getting better over time; a side effect of economic prosperity.
  • r00fus 3y ago
    s/economic prosperity/lack of regulation/ Palm oil is in everything in the US, in France there's a lot more lighter oils and butter.
    • philwelch 3y ago
      The obesity epidemic hasn’t spared France either: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Obesity_in_France https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Obesity_in_France
  • actionfromafar 3y ago
    You meant getting worse.
    • philwelch 3y ago
      No, I didn’t. Obesity is a side effect of having so much food that calories are cheap and plentiful. That’s why obesity rates are rising everywhere in the first world. It’s also something virtually unprecedented in human history.
      • actionfromafar 3y ago
        And it won't last. Fossil fuels make up almost all fertilizer.
  • Sterm 3y ago
    If food is killing more people than it used to that's not an improvement in food.
    • philwelch 3y ago
      If you have so much food even the poorest people can get fat, you are a richer and more prosperous society than 99.9% of human history. Btw obesity is rising in Europe as well.
      • Sterm 3y ago
        [dead]
• elishah 3y ago
  That's a bit of a tenuous connection. That decline is an anomaly. The majority of it is attributable to covid, and a significant minority attributable to fentanyl: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/pressroom/nchs_press_releases/2022/20220831.htm https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/pressroom/nchs_press_releases/2022/... I do agree that the "rising tide raises all boats" rhetoric is largely bunk. But I don't think that this one particular measure, taken at an anomalous time, is sound footing for a counterargument.