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Fabius Minarchus's avatar

A few further thoughts (as this issue is dear to my heart):

Based on childhood memories, there were some morbidly obese people in beach towns as early as the late 60s. But the hardcore hippies were scary skinny.

I'm not entirely convinced on the omega 6 oils per se. I recall reading that the Bushmen eat a large amount of omega-6 containing nuts, and they are not fat. My suspicion is that BURNT seed oils are more of a problem. Unsaturated fatty acids cross link more readily than saturated fats. And then there is the trans fat issue...

Go back to the 60s and 70s, and there was plenty of deep fat frying in Crisco, and other such abominations. Today, the seed oils are used without partially hydrogenating them first. But if you squirt soybean oil on a 400 degree griddle, you get the same greasy mouthfeel as you get with original formula Crisco and old school oleomargarines .

We had enough trans fats in our diets to cause lots of heart attacks long before the surge in obesity and gayness. (And based on my personal experience, the old hydrogenated oils are terrible for pimples and also magnify fevers.)

I find it hard to believe that sugar hasn't gone up that much. Cokes were making the transition from six ounces to twelve ounces when I was growing up. Grape juice came in quart glass bottles. Orange juice was a frozen glop which you reconstituted at home. Maybe sweet tea consumption was as high back in those days, but soda and juice consumption was nowhere near as high as nowadays. Where I live I see people at the Food Lion buying Mountain Dew like the Europeans buy mineral water.

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But I think there is something else. Even our pets are getting fatter, and they aren't eating sugar.

When I get Bond Villain rich, I'm going to look into economical tech to remove birth control residue from the water supply, and also test for other potential culprits, such as Atrazine.

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As for the timing, I noticed a change in teenagers in the late 1990s when doing a Libertarian outreach table at a Junior Statesmen convention. Virtually every girl there was "well developed." Either there was a correlation between estrogen levels and a desire to participate in a model UN, or the contamination began before the late 1990s.

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Mantis's avatar

Let me add my anecdotal experience for what it’s worth. I used to be the prototype for unhealthy, malnourished, low T men. Epigenetics is a real thing. What you consume physically, mentally, and spiritually has a direct effect on what qualities, either good or bad, that your DNA expresses.

I am 41, very low body fat, often get told how jacked I am etc. I eat a lot of meat and eggs for protein and saturated fat, and spend a lot of time out in the sun. I lift heavy weights and do strength conditioning often. There is a limit to how much is good for you and too much with little recovery can absolutely diminish testosterone levels. Not something to be worried about as much for young men who can recover easily as long as they eat well and sleep consistently. The human body is miraculous and able to adapt to a lot when the mind and spirit are strong.

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