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MichaelZuo | on: Life expectancy rise in rich countries slows down: took 30 years to prove
How do you know they don’t have side effects that would reduce max life expectancy?
generalizations | parent | next
Entirely possible they do - but those effects would probably manifest in some fashion earlier than actual death. We'll have at least 7 years to see if we can spot them. But, even if they do exist, they will probably be small (given we haven't found them so far), and the positive effect on life expectancy via weight loss is huge.

i.e. the benefits of the weight loss almost certainly outweigh any side effects that are likely to manifest.

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positr0n | parent | next
People have been taking them for decades for other reasons, so if they had side effects reducing max life expectancy worse than being overweight surely we'd know by now.
hackernewds | root | parent
have they? why are they only gaining prominence now?
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renewiltord | parent | next
We don’t know if MMR doesn’t but we still give kids[0] the vaccine in infancy. The vaccine is too young (<60 y old). So I suppose ask yourself what proof you need and why.

0: most kids, I just got the disease instead and the vax later

izend | root | parent | next
We do know MMRV causes more seizures in kids than MMR and countries (like Canada) still choose to administer the vaccine with riskier outcomes due to costs and the fact parents don’t like to come back for more shots.
sph | root | parent
A vaccine is very different than a hormone taken daily.
aucisson_masque | parent
A study by researchers from the University of British Columbia (Canada) shows a link between drugs intended for diabetics and severe gastrointestinal diseases: pancreatitis, intestinal obstruction, biliary pathologies and gastroparesis.

Only fools would convince themselves a drug has no sideeffect.

The worst is that these drugs were created for legitimate use but are now being abused by what I would call lazy fat who can't get their finger out of their arse and start eating healthy.

When there is a natural, effective and no side effects alternative, why go the medication way.

ben_w | root | parent
When I was at university, I made a game of spending as little as possible on food. 50p/day. Didn't realise until someone here refused to believe me, that my diet then was about 1100 kcal/day during term time. Didn't feel bad at all.

A few years after graduation, for unrelated reasons, I was on antidepressants. I massively over-ate, became obese, gained stretch marks that will likely remain for life.

There was no voice in my head telling me I was even over-eating, there was no awareness of what I was doing to myself even when I felt the weird tingle in my belly that in retrospect was the tearing flesh that has the outward sign of a stretch mark — I ate without thought.

There is no "natural, effective" solution, because our natural instincts are at odds with our unnatural world.

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