Honest question: [...] Are obese people proliferating at a quicker pace than before?
Honest answer: Yes. Overweight females are more fertile (IIRC fertility reaches a maximum at around 30 BMI) and are more likely to decide to have children due to societal factors (they are less likely to be employed and have lower mean household income). Until recently, the second factor did not exist (the societally accepted role of women was to bear children), and the first factor was limited by affluence -- bearing more children doesn't help you genetically if the extra children die of starvation.
The above (horribly politically incorrect) comments notwithstanding, the environmental pressure in favour of "overweight" genes is a tiny fraction of what would be required to cause the observed surge in obesity over the observed timescale. We're looking at a change in environment, not a change in genetics.
Honest answer: Yes. Overweight females are more fertile (IIRC fertility reaches a maximum at around 30 BMI) and are more likely to decide to have children due to societal factors (they are less likely to be employed and have lower mean household income). Until recently, the second factor did not exist (the societally accepted role of women was to bear children), and the first factor was limited by affluence -- bearing more children doesn't help you genetically if the extra children die of starvation.
The above (horribly politically incorrect) comments notwithstanding, the environmental pressure in favour of "overweight" genes is a tiny fraction of what would be required to cause the observed surge in obesity over the observed timescale. We're looking at a change in environment, not a change in genetics.