Diet. When I was younger than 16, we and everyone had home cooked meals every day, no choice. Places like McDonalds did not start showing up in my area when I was 12 or 13.
As time went on, divorce rates increased and/or both spouses were forced to work full time, meals gravitated towards fast and/or ultra-processed food. Why ? The parents had no time to cook.
So here we are.
I wish the article had rates based upon household income too. I kind of expect the children of the very rich is avoiding this trend because they could have servants/hired caregivers cooking for them.
That's an interesting idea however McDonalds has been around since 1940 even if it has not been available to you for very long. I think it must be something else.
While the comment is phrased like it could say that, I don't think that you are responding to the right point.
The point was that people eat fewer freshly prepared meals than before. And while I'm on the go, so I won't research a study, I'm pretty sure this is true.
Additional points:
- street food in Western countries is never really nourishing, almost exclusively fat, sugar, meat protein and processed white bread
- quality of fast food has gone down the drain on top of that, at least here
- not enough daily physical activity
- lots of stressful jobs without physical activity
Might be true, but I don't think malnutrition, sedentary lifestyle etc have peaked in the 70s.
If these factors are perfectly controlled for, maybe you're right. It would be stupid for me to further engage in discussion about it though, without having read science about this.
There are other things we know about though, for example an increase in microplastics intake.
Plus do not forget, the article said the "damage" happens in the first 10 years of a child's life. So people born in the 70s are also seeing an increase in colon cancer.
BTW, for my main comment, I am probably in the top 15% of age distribution of people commenting here.
As time went on, divorce rates increased and/or both spouses were forced to work full time, meals gravitated towards fast and/or ultra-processed food. Why ? The parents had no time to cook.
So here we are.
I wish the article had rates based upon household income too. I kind of expect the children of the very rich is avoiding this trend because they could have servants/hired caregivers cooking for them.