You realize in the US 30% of the population is obese and almost 10% of us have diabetes, right?
A couple of points worth making:
1) 10% of people have diabetes because the definition of "diabetes" has been tinkered with extensively over the last couple of generations. Blood sugar levels that wouldn't have resulted in a diagnosis in the 1950s are now grounds for panic in your doctor's office. I'm not qualified to judge this as a good thing or a bad thing, overall, but it's obvious that it renders basic statistical comparisons impossible. We've seen similar abuse of statistics with other conditions such as autism.
2) If people are heavier now than we were in the past, it could be for the same reason that we're taller than our ancestors: better nutrition (as opposed to the usual claim of worse nutrition.)
A couple of points worth making:
1) 10% of people have diabetes because the definition of "diabetes" has been tinkered with extensively over the last couple of generations. Blood sugar levels that wouldn't have resulted in a diagnosis in the 1950s are now grounds for panic in your doctor's office. I'm not qualified to judge this as a good thing or a bad thing, overall, but it's obvious that it renders basic statistical comparisons impossible. We've seen similar abuse of statistics with other conditions such as autism.
2) If people are heavier now than we were in the past, it could be for the same reason that we're taller than our ancestors: better nutrition (as opposed to the usual claim of worse nutrition.)
In support of that idea, there was an amusing link on Fark earlier: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2251920/171-pounds... (May be considered NSFW if you work in a church.)