Lab animals and pets face obesity epidemic

Lab animals kept on strict diets and routines for decades have been mysteriously gaining weight as well. (https://www.nature.com/articles/news.2010.628) There's more than just social acceptance of obesity and pajamas in the grocery store at work.

People in the 2000's weighed about 10% more than people in the '80s who ate the same amount of calories, with the same micronutrient distribution, and did the same amount of exercise [1]. And what about non-humans? Animals are getting fatter, too [2]. Some of this can be explained by humans eating more, hence making more food available to those animals that eat human leftovers or steal human food. But this weight gain has also been noted in laboratory animals which are on controlled diets. [1] https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2015/09/why-it-wa... [2] https://www.nature.com/articles/news.2010.628

I wonder if there's a relationship to the obesity epidemic, especially since it's not just humans that are getting larger but also lab animals, pets, and wild animals living close to humans [1]. What if we're compelled to eat more calories when we're not getting enough nutrients in our diets? This would impact any animals consuming lower quality fruits and vegetables. [1] https://www.nature.com/articles/news.2010.628