11/22/23 – As a faculty member who regularly teaches future community medicine practitioners about the potential of food to transform health, I often begin my courses with a short history lesson on the U.S. food system.
Although food technology advances have made starvation and stark nutrition deficiencies rare conditions, we are now faced with the irony of diet being among the leading causes of cardiovascular and diabetes-related deaths.
Today, between 58% to 67% of calories eaten by the average adult, child and teenager are derived from ultra-processed foods (UPFs), which were absent from the food supply a century ago. For most generations, foods like chips, processed meats and commercial grain products are a normal part of our daily eating routines — from vending machines, fast food restaurants, convenience stores and dollar stores to school and hospital cafeterias.
