I actually did finally read the article. Interesting. I think maybe the “fast food meal” was lower in calories back then and that people didn’t finish them always... the gut biome might have been better back then as well, less pesticides maybe, better soil? More fat in the diet? Interesting.
If I crave McD I get the kid meal with a water.
Fast food wasn’t an everyday meal for me growing up. Nor for anyone else that I recall. And portions may have been smaller.
Soft drinks were made from cane sugar rather than the high fructose corn syrup that some suspect is a factor; HFCS replaced sugar in late 1984.
And the gut biome is the mystery factor. There is strong evidence that differences in gut flora can make you prone to obesity, or help you to be slim.