Whole Health Source is a non-profit blog managed by Dr. Stephan Guyenet, a biologist who studies the brain’s regulation of body fat levels. I have been following his blog closely for years, and if you’re a nutrition geek like me then I suggest you do the same.
A few months ago he delivered a presentation on The History of The American Diet, at Harvard Food Law Society’s TEDx conference. Here is a post where he discusses the presentation on his blog.
The presentation is available on youtube, and I found it interesting enough to write an article about it.
The video should be of interest to anyone who lives in a western society since the dietary changes have been similar.
Here I am going to outline what I think are the key elements in his presentation.
The main theme is that the nation shifted from eating simple, home cooked meals to eating commercially prepared and packaged foods.
Increase in Obesity
In the year 1892 (120 years ago) the prevalence of obesity in the United States was less than 4% in the age groups 40-69. In the year 2000, this number was up to 25% for those 40-49 years old and almost 40% for the ages 60-69.
In the 20th century, and the past few decades specifically, obesity has reached epidemic proportions.
Changes in Food Preparation
In the 1800s, almost everyone lived near farms. The food choice was rather restricted and seasonal. Cooking, as well as the harvesting of food, was fairly labour intensive.
In the year 1920, gas and electric stoves and electric refrigerators emerged, and around this time grocery stores started popping up everywhere.
With this development followed a diversification in the diet, as well as the appearance of commercially prepared foods (processed foods).
Wheat Consumption
Wheat flour consumption declined in the 20th century, being replaced by sugar, dairy, vegetables and poultry. It started increasing again around 1970, mostly in the form of processed foods.
During the 20th century, wheat consumption shifted dramatically from foods being prepared and eaten in home to processed foods.
Potato Consumption
Total potato consumption increased slightly from the years 1960 to 2007, mainly in the form of french fries and potato chips.
Consumption of fresh potatoes declined by 50%.
The Change in Fat Sources
In 1909, the main added fats in the diet were butter and lard (mainly saturated fats), and declined dramatically in the next 100 years to be replaced by margarine, shortening and refined seed oils.
The total consumption of added fats increased considerably.
Saturated fat consumption has remained relatively stable (4% increase) while monounsaturated fat has increased by 64% and polyunsaturated fat by 200% (there is an error on the slide where it says 300%).
This is reflected in the amount of linoleic acid (the predominant polyunsaturated fat in refined seed oils) in body fat stores, which has increased from 8% to about 20%. These changes are also seen in breast milk composition.
Macronutrients
From 1909, carbohydrate consumption decreased until the year 1980, when it started increasing again.
Fat consumption increased modestly. Protein has increased slightly but remained relatively stable.
As a proportion of total calories, the only macronutrient that has increased from the years 1909 until 2009 is fat, mainly in the form of refined seed oils.
Fat has increased from 31% to 41%, while carbohydrates have decreased from 57% to 49%.
Sugar and Sweetened Beverages
Sugar consumption has increased dramatically. In 1822, the average American consumed less than 10 pounds per year, while in the year 2000 it had increased to 100 pounds per year.
As Stephan says, in 1822 we consumed an amount equal to one 12oz can of cola every 5 days, while today we consume the equivalent of one 12oz can of cola every 7 hours.
Soda vending machines appeared around the year 1920, while the replacement of sugar for High Fructose Corn Syrup happened around 1970.
Much of the increase in sugar intake has been driven by an increase in sweetened beverage consumption, which has increased five-fold from 1947 until 2005.
Engineered Hyperpalatable Foods
Stephan shows a slide with the ingredients list of a typical fast food strawberry milkshake, with a ridiculous amount of chemicals added as “artificial flavour”.
This is a typical food engineered by chemists to maximize palatability, maximize likelihood of repeat purchase, and minimize production cost.
A Major Increase in Calorie Consumption
Calorie intake has increased by 20% or 425kcal/day since the year 1970. Sources vary on this, but everyone agrees that there has been a major increase.
Calories began increasing rapidly in 1980, which corresponds with the dramatic increase in the prevalence of obesity and related problems.
Conclusion
The major takeaway points here are the major shift from simple home-cooked foods towards commercially prepared foods, followed by a massive increase in calorie consumption.
Regarding specific ingredients, the most striking is the massive increase in sugar and refined seed oils.
Sugar consumption is out of control at the moment, and it’s not going to get better. Kids these days would rather down a Monster or Red Bull after playing sports instead of water. I think it’s going to be really interesting to watch Type II diabetes rates continue to climb.
I think it’s sad that people (parents in particular) would rather choose the ease of providing processed, crappy foods for their families over providing healthy, nutritional meals. It seems as though this has the potential to only get worse–so many kids don’t even see their parents cook and may not learn the life skill of preparing home-cooked meals and therefore a vicious cycle occurs. I have 4 kids between the ages of 5 and 10, and all of them are good, healthy eaters. Every morning they receive a hot breakfast of either eggs or oatmeal, lunches consist of a variety of fruits and veggies, raw nuts, besides a sandwich, and with rare exception, most nights they eat a well-rounded, healthy home-cooked meal. I’ll catch them “sneaking” raw spinach out of the fridge for a snack. People ask how we managed to not have picky eaters; it boils down to providing healthy options and setting a good example. The older kids have been fascinated with the fact that a fast-food burger by itself contains as many (if not more) calories as their entire breakfast and lunch combined. It’s quite a visual when you see just how much food you can eat by comparison when you choose to eat healthfully!
Kris, I enjoy your blog and agree wholeheartedly with much of what you say. It’s nice to have a resource where eating eggs, nuts, and butter, etc. is not demonized. Thanks for all the great articles!
Thank you, Tricia. I appreciate it :)
Great post Kris
If everyone would just eat whole natural foods…. they would be no obesity problem in America.
Best – Mike
Right on Mike. Avoid all the processed foods in the middle of the supermarket, and shop on the perimeter.
I agree with Tricia… plus, even though this article is an outline of the Ted talk, I don’t know how you find the time to crank out all of this content. It’s really, really good.
Raza
I am in complete agreement with moving back to home-cooked meals as opposed to the refined/processed forms that most of us Westerners eat. However, parents these days are not purposefully poisoning their kids. We need to look at the real causes of this shift. I would say it has more to do with our consumerism and the drive for more/bigger/fancier stuff. People have to work two to three jobs to achieve the dream.
Cooking from scratch takes an investment of time whether it is cutting veggies for a salad or baking. You are going to be hard pressed to beat 3 minutes on the microwave or 5 minutes on the drive thru (I am not saying it is the right thing, I am just saying it is the way things are ;) If that means you get to spend 30 more minutes with your kids than most people are going to take that family time.
The bigger goal needs to be to give people back that knowledge and ability to eat healthy in our time strapped society. We need to keep helping people realize it is possible to live a healthful and fulfilled life.
True, it all depends on what one’s perspective of the “dream” is and that dream often requires people to work multiple jobs in order to sustain such a lifestyle. The dream I’m living consists of many so-called sacrifices so that I can stay home with my children. And yes, it’s certainly much easier to go through a drive-thru or heat a meal in the microwave in order to have more time with the family. But, why not put a spin on it and spend time with your family cooking together! It’s too bad this idea doesn’t take off! ;)
You forgot one other factor…people are far less active these days. Its amazing how much more sedentary vs. 120 years ago.
Wow, awesome article Kris. Reminds me of the documentary Forks over Knives.
By the way, your site is very fast to load (very appreciated). Which caching plugin do you use? Thanks.
Hello Josh. I use W3 Total Cache, and I am running the site on a dedicated server. I use MaxCDN as a content delivery network. I also removed a bunch of widgets and stuff which really made a difference.
Informative post! I truly believe that Americans are getting tired of their “fat and lazy” reputation. Hopefully in the next few years obesity rates start to go down in the states.