https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1871403X15001210
Coles Notes:
It’s harder for adults today to maintain the same weight as those 20 to 30 years ago did, even at the same levels of food intake and exercise.
People today are about 10 percent heavier than people were in the 1980s, even if they follow the exact same diet and exercise plans.
The findings indicate there may be other specific changes contributing to the rise in obesity beyond just diet and exercise.
The changes were speculated to include the following:
- People are exposed to more chemicals that may induce weight gain (endocrine disruptors etc).
- Increased use of prescription drugs, such as anti-depressants which are linked to weight gain.
- North American microbiomes may have changed.
- Increase consumption of artificial sweeteners.
The authors speculate that Americans eat more meat than they did a few decades ago, which may have changed their microbiomes, which also contain hormones and antibiotics. This does not sound right to me because I though meat consumption was actually declining.
No mention of the possibility that changes in the degree of food processing may have influenced the findings.
Also that more people are following the nutritional guides and as meat consumption goes down, carbohydrate consumption has gone up.
