A Chemical Hunger – Part V: Livestock Antibiotics
I had never heard of slime mold time mold dot com until today, so I read back through the author&#x27;s theories and I&#x27;m not convinced there&#x27;s anything here.<p>His initial premise, that the cause of obesity is a mystery, doesn&#x27;t seem to be that well-researched.  Most importantly, he does not really poke holes in the basic premise that the cause is linked to increased availability of food in general coupled with more people living sedentary lifestyles.  He even mentions that average daily caloric intake has gone up c. 400 kcal since the turn of the 20th century.  Which, for someone with a maintenance-level diet, would cause a 35-45 lb. annual weight gain.<p>The antibiotic theory here doesn&#x27;t seem to address the possibility of wealth and industrialization as a confounding variable.  In fact, he doesn&#x27;t seem to seriously address confounding variables anywhere in his analysis.<p>I don&#x27;t assert that antibiotics in the food supply should not be considered harmful, but his vague hand-waving in the direction of a culprit for some great unknown mystery seems thin at best. I&#x27;d love to hear some competing takes.