this post was submitted on 17 Mar 2026
60 points (100.0% liked)

United States | News & Politics

9089 readers
223 users here now

founded 5 years ago
MODERATORS
pangyuehung@lemmy.ml
yogthos@lemmy.ml
60
Rising Death Rate for Gen X, Elder Millennials Is 'Genuinely Alarming' (people.com)
submitted 1 week ago by davel@lemmy.ml to c/usa@lemmy.ml
18 comments fedilink hide all child comments
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] tomatolung@sopuli.xyz 10 points 1 week ago (2 children)

It'll be interesting to see if we can find more than a correlation. This ought to be a polymarket bet... But mine would be on either ultra processed foods or microplastics.

[–] BeardededSquidward@lemmy.blahaj.zone 6 points 1 week ago (1 children)

More than likely the ultra processed foods. So much shit added that other countries ban because it's carcinogenic but not in the USA because it's cheap and makes the line go up. Think it was a documentary that included the Oreos CEO who refused to eat their own product.

[–] farting_gorilla@lemmy.world 10 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (2 children)

I saw a video where they talked about a bunch of studies about ultra processed foods, and the top 3 worst foods for health were (iiirc)

  1. Processed meats like bacon and hotdogs
  2. Sugary drinks
  3. Sugary baked goods (think this included oreos and snack cakes etc)

Those 3 were like 99% of the danger of processed foods.

[–] BeardededSquidward@lemmy.blahaj.zone 4 points 1 week ago (1 children)
  1. Yeah, sulfates and various preserving materials aren't good long term. One of those cases of very modest consumption. Though bacon is practically everywhere now.
  2. I wonder if it's sugar in general or HFCS. I have a feeling it's the later given its plethora of negative health qualities.
  3. Same with if it's HFCS or not related into it.

The most dangerous processed foods are also made so cheap and thus easier to consume.

[–] farting_gorilla@lemmy.world 1 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I misremembered slightly, overall biggest impact were the top 2:

  1. processed meat/poultry/seafood
  2. natural and artificially sweetened beverages

Link

[–] BeardededSquidward@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 points 1 week ago

Thank you for the nummy context.

[–] UltraGiGaGigantic@lemmy.ml 2 points 1 week ago

hotdogs

Oh shit, im like made of 99% hotdogs at this point.

[–] MIDItheKID@lemmy.world 4 points 1 week ago

My money is on plastics. This generation is exactly the one that saw a huge shift happen. Glass bottles to plastic bottles, cardboard takeout containers to plastic containers, metal plumbing to plastic plumbing. You literally go to the store and buy vegetables and they come wrapped in plastic. Even frozen vegetables used to come in boxes. Now? Plastic. Milk carton? How about milk plastic? It's literally everything. Everything is plastic, and it all started kicking off for Gen X.