The Mysteries of Obesity: Beyond Calories In, Calories Out – A Deeper Look at the Unexplained, By Mrs (Dr) Abigail Knight (Florida)
Obesity isn't just a modern health crisis; it's a scientific puzzle wrapped in paradoxes, historical oddities, and stubborn data that refuse to fit neat explanations. The recent Infowars piece (February 7, 2026) by Raw Egg Nationalist, titled "The Mysteries of Obesity: How Much Do We Really Know about the Causes of Weight Gain?", spotlights this confusion by drawing heavily from the influential 2021 blog series A Chemical Hunger by Slime Mold Time Mold (SMTM). Together, they challenge the dominant "calories in, calories out" (CICO) narrative, highlighting how something profound shifted around 1980, driving global weight gain in humans and animals despite unchanged diets or habits.
The core thesis? We don't fully understand obesity's causes. Mainstream advice — eat less, move more — works inconsistently, diets fail long-term for most, and the epidemic exploded abruptly. I will look at the key mysteries, the evidence, and emerging theories, including infectious microbes and environmental contaminants.
Mystery 1: The Sudden, Massive Epidemic
Obesity wasn't gradual; it was explosive. In the US:
1920s: Average male weight ~155 lbs, obesity ~1%.
Today: ~195 lbs, obesity ~40%.
Pre-1980: Rates hovered ~10%; post-1980, they rocketed to 30%+ by the early 2000s, with acceleration continuing (more gain 2010–2018 than 2000–2008).
Globally, no country exceeded 15% obesity in 1975; now even Italy, France, and Sweden top 20%. High-calorie foods like Oreos (1912), Coca-Cola (1886), and Doritos (1966) existed for decades without mass obesity. What changed around 1980?
Historical diets were often richer in fats (more butter, cream, lard) yet people stayed leaner effortlessly — even desk workers. Union Army veterans in the 1890s averaged BMI ~23 (3% obese); by 2000, BMI ~28 (24–41% obese).
Mystery 2: Hunter-Gatherers and "Extreme" Diets Stay Lean
Groups eating diets we'd call disastrous remain slim:
Hadza: 15% calories from honey (sugar intake rivalling Americans), yet no obesity.
Mbuti (Congo): Up to 80% from honey, still lean.
Kuna: 17% sugar, BMI 22–23.
Inuit: 50% fat from seal/blubber.
Maasai: 66% fat from milk/blood/meat.
Kitavans: 70% carbs, abundant food, BMI decreases with age, zero obesity or chronic diseases.
These contradict ideas that sugar, fat, or carbs alone drive obesity.
Mystery 3: Animals Are Getting Fatter Too – Without "Lifestyle" Choices
Lab rats, zoo animals, pets (dogs/cats), feral urban rodents, and even horses gain weight on identical diets to decades ago. "Cafeteria diets" (junk like Froot Loops, salami, Doritos) make rats overeat spontaneously and gain more than pure high-fat or high-carb feeds — despite similar macros.
This rules out personal responsibility or willpower as primary drivers.
Mystery 4: Altitude Protection
Higher elevations correlate with lower obesity and diabetes (e.g., Colorado has the lowest US rates; patterns in Spain, Tibet). "Altitude anorexia" causes rapid weight loss in humans and rats, beyond oxygen/CO2 or activity explanations.
Why Conventional Theories Fall Short
CICO assumes weight is simple energy balance. But:
Diets achieve short-term loss (5–20 lbs), but most regain.
No superior diet emerges long-term (keto, Mediterranean, low-fat show minimal differences, <1 kg on average).
The "lipostat" (body's fat-regulation set point, like a thermostat) defends a higher weight in obese people — brain damage or drugs can shift it, and neuroscience supports homeostatic control over fat storage.
SMTM argues current theories can't explain the abruptness, animal trends, or historical leanness.
Emerging Alternative Explanations
1.Infectious / Microbial Hypothesis (Infowars emphasis): Obesity might be partly "catchable." 2006 studies showed obese mice have higher Firmicutes-to-Bacteroidetes gut ratios; transplanting obese gut bacteria to lean mice causes weight gain on the same diet. Human-to-mouse transplants do the same. Germ-free mice resist diet-induced obesity. This suggests transmissible microbes (via contact, shared spaces) could drive spread — explaining rapid societal jumps and family patterns.
2.Environmental Contaminants / Chemical Hunger (SMTM's core series): Something ubiquitous post-1980 disrupts the lipostat, raising the fat "set point." Obesogens (endocrine disruptors) alter metabolism, adipose tissue, and hunger signals. The series predicts widespread exposure (water, food, air, homes) from dozens of compounds, each with small effects compounding. Paradoxical reactions (e.g., anorexia in some) fit too. Later parts explore candidates like lithium in well water or glyphosate, though not all pan out.
These aren't mutually exclusive — microbes could interact with chemicals.
What Does This Mean?
Obesity research is stuck because it ignores these mysteries. CICO advice fails many because it treats symptoms, not the disrupted regulation. If infectious or chemical causes dominate, solutions shift to prevention (cleaner environments, microbiome research) rather than endless dieting.
The Infowars piece urges open-minded funding for wild ideas like microbial transmission. SMTM's series (now a multi-part epic) calls for reevaluating everything.
Strange stuff indeed: A global epidemic hitting humans and animals, defying history and logic. Perhaps it's not laziness or gluttony, maybe something in our modern world quietly reset our bodies' dials. Until we solve these mysteries, the weight keeps piling on.
https://slimemoldtimemold.com/2021/07/07/a-chemical-hunger-part-i-mysteries/
