New York Times - "Americans are finally eating less"
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Orphia
Posts: 7,097 Member
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/25/upshot/americans-are-finally-eating-less.html?ref=health&abt=0002&abg=1
"Calories consumed daily by the typical American adult, which peaked around 2003, are in the midst of their first sustained decline since federal statistics began to track the subject, more than 40 years ago. The number of calories that the average American child takes in daily has fallen even more — by at least 9 percent.
The declines cut across most major demographic groups — including higher- and lower-income families, and blacks and whites — though they vary somewhat by group.
In the most striking shift, the amount of full-calorie soda drunk by the average American has dropped 25 percent since the late 1990s."
It seems all the doom and gloom is finally being listened to, and add that to programs by the Obama administration, and initiatives by individual cities.
"Anti-soda messages hit their target. Americans, on average, purchased about 40 gallons of full-calorie soda a year in 1998, according to sales data from the industry trade publication Beverage Digest analyzed by the Center for Science in the Public Interest. That fell to 30 gallons in 2014, about the level that Americans bought in 1980, before the obesity rates took off."
While the trend is seen across many demographics, it's not all good news.
"Among the most overweight people, weight and waist circumference have all continued rising in recent years."
"The recent calorie reductions appear to be good news, but they, alone, will not be enough to reverse the obesity epidemic. A paper by Kevin Hall, a researcher at the National Institutes of Health, estimated that for Americans to return to the body weights of 1978 by 2020, an average adult would need to reduce calorie consumption by 220 calories a day. The recent reductions represent just a fraction of that change.
“This was like a freight train going downhill without brakes,” Kelly Brownell, dean of the Sanford School of Public Policy at Duke University, said. “Anything slowing it down is good.”"
I'm taking this news optimistically, and hoping the trend will continue.
"Calories consumed daily by the typical American adult, which peaked around 2003, are in the midst of their first sustained decline since federal statistics began to track the subject, more than 40 years ago. The number of calories that the average American child takes in daily has fallen even more — by at least 9 percent.
The declines cut across most major demographic groups — including higher- and lower-income families, and blacks and whites — though they vary somewhat by group.
In the most striking shift, the amount of full-calorie soda drunk by the average American has dropped 25 percent since the late 1990s."
It seems all the doom and gloom is finally being listened to, and add that to programs by the Obama administration, and initiatives by individual cities.
"Anti-soda messages hit their target. Americans, on average, purchased about 40 gallons of full-calorie soda a year in 1998, according to sales data from the industry trade publication Beverage Digest analyzed by the Center for Science in the Public Interest. That fell to 30 gallons in 2014, about the level that Americans bought in 1980, before the obesity rates took off."
While the trend is seen across many demographics, it's not all good news.
"Among the most overweight people, weight and waist circumference have all continued rising in recent years."
"The recent calorie reductions appear to be good news, but they, alone, will not be enough to reverse the obesity epidemic. A paper by Kevin Hall, a researcher at the National Institutes of Health, estimated that for Americans to return to the body weights of 1978 by 2020, an average adult would need to reduce calorie consumption by 220 calories a day. The recent reductions represent just a fraction of that change.
“This was like a freight train going downhill without brakes,” Kelly Brownell, dean of the Sanford School of Public Policy at Duke University, said. “Anything slowing it down is good.”"
I'm taking this news optimistically, and hoping the trend will continue.
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Replies
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Interesting!0
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About time
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Childhood obesity has dropped by about 40%, too!0
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Outside of beverages, there are few clear trends. Experts who have examined the data say the reductions do not mean that Americans are flocking to farmer’s markets and abandoning fast food. Consumption of fruits and vegetables remains low; consumption of desserts remains high. Instead, people appear to be eating a little less of everything. Although consumption in nearly every category has been “cut some,” said Mr. Popkin, “the food part of our diet is horrendous and remains horrendous.”
Whoops
What's with the depressing plates of little food, though?0 -
It's because the cost of everything in this country has gone up and people are budgeting out their diet coke..
SNORT! Yes, I DO think I'm funny!0 -
I tend to agree with Lisa that this is more a financial issue than a health one, if you look at the charts on obesity over the last 20 years, it's frightening how fast this country is getting fatter and fatter. Skyrocketing.
I think Americans are wasting less food than we used to and that alone may account for buying less. More and more, I hear people agreeing with not wasting food, where I used to hear people talking about how much food they threw out.
I'll believe there is a downturn when I see it.0 -
I just figured people were switching from full sugar to diet0
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Pop sales are down, especially diet. Aspartame around here is well-loved, but it's illegal in some places and some people got very nervous about differing reports on it's safety. Pepsi took the aspartame out.I just figured people were switching from full sugar to diet
Maybe people are spending less, maybe aspartame, maybe the pop companies switching to those horrendously hard to open caps on the bottles and maybe being told not to drink it. I dunno, but they're down.
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Self reported data with no verification. There are some issues with that technique.
I'm doing exactly what I'm supposed to ... I swear ... trust me ...0 -
Pop sales are down, especially diet. Aspartame around here is well-loved, but it's illegal in some places and some people got very nervous about differing reports on it's safety. Pepsi took the aspartame out.I just figured people were switching from full sugar to diet
Maybe people are spending less, maybe aspartame, maybe the pop companies switching to those horrendously hard to open caps on the bottles and maybe being told not to drink it. I dunno, but they're down.
Source? Was it in the article? I missed it, didn't I?
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No, it wasn't in the article. Maybe if you google it, you'll find it. I've read about it, probably in the WSJ. It's been on TV. It's not a secret. It's been going on for a while.
Pop sales are down, especially diet. Aspartame around here is well-loved, but it's illegal in some places and some people got very nervous about differing reports on it's safety. Pepsi took the aspartame out.I just figured people were switching from full sugar to diet
Maybe people are spending less, maybe aspartame, maybe the pop companies switching to those horrendously hard to open caps on the bottles and maybe being told not to drink it. I dunno, but they're down.
Source? Was it in the article? I missed it, didn't I?
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And here's the article where they explain where they came up with the stats in OP's article:
It’s Hard to Count Calories, Even for Researchers0 -
Either hell hath frozen over, or we're about to discover evidence that CICO is wrong.
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Either hell hath frozen over, or we're about to discover evidence that CICO is wrong.
Well, one of the graphics I wound up reading showed soda consumption being down... And sports drinks being up by twice as much
http://www.bloomberg.com/bw/articles/2014-07-31/coca-cola-sales-decline-health-concerns-spur-relaunch#p3
PS: Thanks for the links, guys0 -
People are broke & being choosy about how they spend their $.0
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If you don't have access to a quality farmer's market that actually sells organic produce (not just homemade bread and jams), then the cost if produce can be rediculous compared to a box of instant potatoes or macaroni.0
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mangrothian wrote: »And here's the article where they explain where they came up with the stats in OP's article:
It’s Hard to Count Calories, Even for Researchers
Thanks very much for that. Fascinating! I love data!0 -
dobbywocky wrote: »If you don't have access to a quality farmer's market that actually sells organic produce (not just homemade bread and jams), then the cost if produce can be rediculous compared to a box of instant potatoes or macaroni.
That's an excuse and false, you can eat healthy on a budget even when fresh isn't readily available. Store brand frozen veggies. ..steamed. .coupons for lean meats etc. I can manage a salmon and spinach dinner for LESS per per person than what a McDonald's cost!0
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