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Re:A Cultural History of Fat by pygy_ on Monday February 25, 2019 @07:37AM (#19245159)
For one, the amount of refined sugar in our diet exploded recently.

More generally, even if the molecular building blocks didn't change, the way food is prepared industrially and marketed makes us more likely to eat too much of it.

Re:A Cultural History of Fat by DanielleMolloy on Monday February 25, 2019 @09:58AM (#19246040)
A lot of our modern economy seems to be relying on human predisposition to addictions. Think sugar / carbs, alcohol, tobacco, certain games, news and social media and their recommendation engines. All exploiting similar neural pathways.
Re:A Cultural History of Fat by pygy_ on Monday February 25, 2019 @10:16AM (#19246169)
Yup. The free market as the end to all means relies on several incorrect assumptions:

1) humans are not rational agents that always pursue their best interest

2) local optimization (what the market does) doesn't always lead to a global optimum

3) oftentimes the interest of investors and consumers diverge and the former have far more power (information asymmetry).