Was that the norm or the camera lens?Retiring doctors say that we're fatter than we used to be. It's anecdote, but somebody who has examined human bodies for 50 years does have some credibility.
Alternatively I believe you have experience with an entity that does keep accurate population stats: the army. ;-) Those records show a definite increase in fat volume in soldiers.
FWIW there is a strong but so far unsubstantiated suspicion that the epidemic of female cancers is related to the hormone effects of additional fat. Presumably future generations will look back on obesity and shake their heads at our stupidity.
"... They ne'er cared for us
yet: suffer us to famish, and their store-houses
crammed with grain; make edicts for usury, to
support usurers; repeal daily any wholesome act
established against the rich, and provide more
piercing statutes daily, to chain up and restrain
the poor. If the wars eat us not up, they will; and
there's all the love they bear us."
-- Shakespeare: Coriolanus, Act 1, scene 1
