Every top comment here tries to distill the problem into this or that based on hunches or links to books or blog posts.
"It's cities"
"It's society"
"It's portions"
"It's plastics"
"It's activity"
"It's overeating"
"It's contaminates"
"It's education"
"It's just calories"
This is a complex problem, and you are not experts.
It could be some or all of those things,
but this kind of pet-theory reductivism doesn't get us anywhere.
Where is it that we can go in a free-wheeling conversation that amounts to 'what do you think about obesity in America?'.
Hacker News talking about technology is usually able to engage with a topic or article with some manner of substance, or at the very least, informed by professional familiarity.
In this case, as far as I can tell, no one even read the site's information beyond glancing at the troubling stats.
Taking a quote from the same area of the CDC's site, which articulates a clearer thesis and goal than here in the comments:
"Obesity is a complex disease with many contributing factors. Neighborhood design, access to healthy, affordable foods and beverages, and access to safe and convenient places for physical activity can all impact obesity. The racial and ethnic disparities in obesity underscore the need to address social determinants of health such as poverty, education, and housing to remove barriers to health. This will take action at the policy and systems level to ensure that obesity prevention and management starts early, and that everyone has access to good nutrition and safe places to be physically active. Policy makers and community leaders must work to ensure that their communities, environments, and systems support a healthy, active lifestyle for all."
"It's society"
"It's portions"
"It's plastics"
"It's activity"
"It's overeating"
"It's contaminates"
"It's education"
"It's just calories"
This is a complex problem, and you are not experts. It could be some or all of those things, but this kind of pet-theory reductivism doesn't get us anywhere.