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Comment by gadders | Hacker News Reader

I thought anti-biotics in animals generate lean muscle mass? They would not get fed to them if they made animals fat.

I guess you could argue that they work differently in humans. I could certainly see that for cows and their different digestion, but pigs being omnivores are more similar.

I also think % body fat would be a better measure of obesity than BMI.

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> I also think % body fat would be a better measure of obesity than BMI.

The author mentioned why they list BMI rather than body fat percentage in part 1:

> (Most experts consider measures like body fat percentage to be better measures of adiposity than BMI, and we agree. Unfortunately, nearly every source reports BMI, and most don’t report body fat percentage. Here, we use BMI so that we can compare different sources to one another.)

https://slimemoldtimemold.com/2021/07/07/a-chemical-hunger-p...

That's fair, I guess. He can only work with the data he has been given. All the sources need to change.

Fat tastes better than lean meat. I think it would be desirable to make livestock fat. Historical records indicate people like fat animals for food. Biblical texts refer to flattened animals as desirable.

You mean ‘fattened’, not ‘flattened’, right? Unless those guys had a thing for steam roll-erred livestock :D

Haha yeah that was a typo.

Fat red meat is cheaper than lean red meat.

Maybe for ground meat, but beef for example is priced higher according to it's fat content. For example prime is higher in fat and in price than choice, and wagyu is prized for it's high fat content. The fattiest red meat, A5 wagyu, is upwards of $100/lb.

Up to a point. Producers have to meet a standard for supermarkets (at least in the UK). They get financially penalised if animals are too fat when slaughtered.

I think you meant steroids.. not antibiotics..

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