what is the american diet essay

Standard American Diet

A 2010 report from the National Cancer Institute on the status of the American diet found that three out of four Americans don’t eat a single piece of fruit in a given day, and nearly nine out of ten don’t reach the minimum recommended daily intake of vegetables . On a weekly basis, 96 percent of Americans don’t reach the minimum for greens or beans (three servings a week for adults), 98 percent don’t reach the minimum for orange vegetables (two servings a week), and 99 percent don’t reach the minimum for whole grains (about three to four ounces a day). “In conclusion,” the researchers wrote, “nearly the entire U.S. population consumes a diet that is not on par with recommendations. These findings add another piece to the rather disturbing picture that is emerging of a nation’s diet in crisis.”

A dietary quality index was developed reflecting the percentage of calories people derive from nutrient-rich, unprocessed plant foods on a scale of 0 to 100. The higher people score, the more body fat they tend to lose over time and the lower their risk appears to be of abdominal obesity , high blood pressure , high cholesterol , and high triglycerides. Sadly, it appears most Americans hardly make it past a score of ten. The standard American diet reportedly rates 11 out of 100. According to U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates, 32 percent of our calories comes from animal foods, 57 percent from processed plant foods, and only 11 percent from whole grains, beans, fruits, vegetables, and nuts. That means on a scale of one to ten, the American diet would rate about a one.

Adhering to just four simple healthy lifestyle factors may have a strong impact on chronic disease prevention: not smoking , not being obese, getting a daily half hour of exercise , and eating healthier—defined as consuming more fruits, veggies, and whole grains, and less meat. Those four factors alone were found to account for 78 percent of chronic disease risk. If we ticked off all four, we may be able to wipe out more than 90 percent of our risk of developing diabetes , more than 80 percent of our heart attack risk, halve our risk of stroke , and reduce our overall cancer risk by more than one-third.

The information on this page has been compiled from Dr. Greger’s research. Sources for each video listed can be found by going to the video’s page and clicking on the Sources Cited tab. References may also be found at the back of his books.

Image Credit: RachelC.Photography / Flickr. This image has been modified.

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Regions & Countries

What’s on your table how america’s diet has changed over the decades.

Americans eat more chicken and less beef than they used to. They drink less milk – especially whole milk – and eat less ice cream, but they consume way more cheese. Their diets include less sugar than in prior decades but a lot more corn-derived sweeteners. And while the average American eats the equivalent of 1.2 gallons of yogurt a year, he or she also consumes 36 pounds of cooking oils – more than three times as much as in the early 1970s.

Americans’ eating habits, in short, are all over the place, at least according to our analysis of U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) data. Which is about what you’d expect, judging from the results of Pew Research Center’s recent survey on food and nutrition attitudes . In that survey, 54% of Americans said people in the U.S. pay more attention to eating healthy foods today compared with 20 years ago – the same percentage who said Americans’ actual eating habits are less healthy today than they were 20 years ago. And while 73% of Americans said they were very or fairly focused on healthy and nutritious eating, 58% said that most days they probably should be eating healthier.

So how do Americans really eat, and how has that changed over time? We analyzed data from the USDA’s Food Availability (Per Capita) Data System , or FADS, to find out. (Specifically, we used food availability adjusted for waste, spoilage and other loss as a proxy for consumption.) While the nation’s eating habits don’t change all that much from year to year, looking at them over 40 or more years shows some significant changes.

Broadly speaking, we eat a lot more than we used to: The average American consumed 2,481 calories a day in 2010, about 23% more than in 1970. That’s more than most adults need to maintain their current weight, according to the Mayo Clinic’s calorie calculator . (A 40-year-old man of average height and weight who’s moderately active, for instance, needs 2,400 calories; a 40-year-old woman with corresponding characteristics needs 1,850 calories.)

Nearly half of those calories come from just two food groups: flours and grains (581 calories, or 23.4%) and fats and oils (575, or 23.2%), up from a combined 37.3% in 1970. Meats, dairy and sweeteners provide smaller shares of our daily caloric intake than they did four decades ago; then again, so do fruits and vegetables (7.9% in 2010 versus 9.2% in 1970).

While butter consumption, at 3.3 pounds per person per year, is about the same as it was in 1970, margarine use has fallen dramatically, from a peak of 7.2 pounds per person per year in 1976 to 2.1 pounds in 2010. (In 2011 the Census Bureau discontinued the report USDA relied on to make most of its fat and oil estimates, though the department has been developing a replacement. That’s also why overall calorie-consumption estimates aren’t available past 2010.)

Several interesting shifts are happening within food groups. For the past decade, for instance, chicken has topped beef as the most-consumed meat. In 2014, Americans ate an average of 47.9 pounds of chicken a year (2.1 ounces a day), versus 39.4 pounds (1.7 ounces a day) of beef. While average chicken consumption has more than doubled since 1970, beef has fallen by more than a third.

Over in the dairy aisle, Americans are drinking 42% less milk than they did in 1970: 12.6 gallons a year, equivalent to 4.8 ounces a day. However, we’re eating a lot more cheese: 21.9 pounds a year, nearly three times the average annual consumption in 1970. And yogurt has soared in popularity, from negligible levels in 1970 to almost 1.2 gallons per person per year in 2014 – a 1,700% increase.

Americans consume 29% more grains, mostly in the form of breads, pastries and other baked goods, than they did in 1970 – the equivalent of 122.1 pounds a year. But that’s actually down from 2000, the year of “peak grain,” when per capita annual consumption was a hefty 137.6 pounds. While corn products are a somewhat bigger part of the average American diet (14 pounds per person per year, up from 4.9 pounds in 1970), wheat is still the country’s staple grain.

America’s sweet tooth peaked in 1999, when each person consumed an average of 90.2 pounds of added caloric sweeteners a year, or 26.7 teaspoons a day. In 2014, sweetener use was down to 77.3 pounds per year, or 22.9 teaspoons a day. (Note that those figures don’t include noncaloric sweeteners, such as aspartame, sucralose and stevia.) While most of the sweetener consumed in 1970 was refined sugar, the market is now almost evenly split between sugar and corn-derived sweeteners, such as high-fructose corn syrup.

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About Pew Research Center Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan fact tank that informs the public about the issues, attitudes and trends shaping the world. It conducts public opinion polling, demographic research, media content analysis and other empirical social science research. Pew Research Center does not take policy positions. It is a subsidiary of The Pew Charitable Trusts .

The Standard American Diet and its relationship to the health status of Americans

Affiliation.

• 1 Nutrition Housecall, LLC, Elmhurst, Illinois, USA. [email protected]
• PMID: 21139124
• DOI: 10.1177/0884533610386234

The Standard American Diet (SAD) has long been implicated in contributing to the health challenges experienced in the United States. Significant changes to the SAD have occurred since the 1950s, including a greater abundance and accessibility to calorie-dense and nutrient-poor food and beverage choices. The disparity of present consumption patterns to diet and nutrition recommendations from the Dietary Guidelines for Americans are addressed.

Publication types

• Historical Article
• Diet / history
• Diet / standards*
• Energy Intake*
• Food Supply*
• Guidelines as Topic
• Health Status*
• History, 20th Century
• Nutrition Policy*
• United States

Essay on American Diet

Students are often asked to write an essay on American Diet in their schools and colleges. And if you’re also looking for the same, we have created 100-word, 250-word, and 500-word essays on the topic.

Let’s take a look…

100 Words Essay on American Diet

The american diet.

The American diet is famous worldwide, often associated with fast food like burgers and fries. However, it’s more diverse. It includes grains, fruits, vegetables, dairy, and proteins.

Fast Food Influence

Fast food has a significant influence on the American diet. Chains like McDonald’s and KFC are popular. They serve burgers, pizzas, and fried chicken, which are high in fats and sugars.

Health Effects

This diet can lead to health problems like obesity, heart disease, and diabetes. Hence, many Americans are now opting for healthier options like salads and lean proteins.

The Shift Towards Health

A shift towards a healthier diet is noticeable. More Americans are now consuming organic food, whole grains, and plant-based proteins.

250 Words Essay on American Diet

The evolution of the american diet.

The American diet has evolved significantly over the centuries, influenced by various factors such as immigration, industrialization, and globalization. Initially, the diet was dominated by locally sourced, seasonal foods, reflecting the agrarian lifestyle of early settlers. However, the advent of industrialization, urbanization, and the rise of fast food culture in the 20th century led to a shift towards processed, high-calorie foods.

The Current State of the American Diet

Today’s American diet is characterized by high consumption of processed foods, red meat, sugary drinks, and high-fat dairy products. This has been linked to the rising prevalence of obesity, heart disease, and diabetes. The USDA reports that the average American exceeds recommended intake levels for added sugars, saturated fats, and sodium, while falling short on fruits, vegetables, and whole grains.

Implications and Future Directions

The health implications of the American diet are alarming, necessitating urgent changes. Many initiatives aim to promote healthier eating habits, such as the USDA’s MyPlate, which encourages a balanced diet of fruits, vegetables, grains, proteins, and dairy.

The future of the American diet lies in embracing sustainability and nutrition. This includes reducing meat consumption, increasing plant-based foods, and minimizing food waste. The pandemic has also highlighted the importance of food security and the need for local, resilient food systems.

In conclusion, the American diet, while rich and diverse, has room for significant improvement. By prioritizing health and sustainability, we can transform our food landscape for the better.

500 Words Essay on American Diet

The American diet has undergone significant changes over the past century. In the early 20th century, meals were typically prepared at home using fresh, locally-sourced ingredients. However, the post-war period saw a shift towards convenience and processed foods. This transition was fueled by the advent of new food technologies and the rise of the fast-food industry.

The Modern American Diet

Today, the American diet is characterized by high intakes of processed foods, red meat, sugar-sweetened beverages, and high-fat dairy products. It is low in fruits, vegetables, whole grains, legumes, fish, and nuts. This dietary pattern is often referred to as the “Western diet.”

The Western diet has been linked to a host of health problems, including obesity, heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and certain types of cancer. Despite the well-documented health risks associated with this diet, it remains prevalent due to factors such as convenience, affordability, and the influence of food advertising.

The Impact of the American Diet on Health

The impact of the American diet on public health is profound. Obesity rates in the United States are among the highest in the world. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), more than one-third of adults in the U.S. are obese. This obesity epidemic is largely driven by the high caloric content and low nutritional value of the typical American diet.

Furthermore, the American diet contributes to a high prevalence of chronic diseases. The CDC reports that heart disease, cancer, and type 2 diabetes—conditions often linked to diet—are among the leading causes of death in the U.S.

The Socioeconomic Factors

The American diet is not just a matter of personal choice; it is also influenced by socioeconomic factors. For instance, low-income individuals often have limited access to fresh, nutritious foods due to the higher costs and lack of availability in certain areas, known as “food deserts.” Instead, they rely on cheaper, processed foods that are high in calories but low in nutritional value.

Shifting Towards a Healthier Future

There is a growing movement to shift the American diet towards healthier, more sustainable patterns. This includes promoting the consumption of more fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and lean proteins, while reducing the intake of processed foods, sugars, and unhealthy fats.

Educational initiatives are also crucial to inform the public about the importance of a healthy diet and provide practical strategies for making healthier food choices. Additionally, policy interventions can play a key role in improving access to nutritious foods, particularly in low-income communities.

In conclusion, the American diet, while deeply ingrained in our culture and lifestyle, is a significant public health concern. However, with concerted efforts from individuals, communities, and policymakers, it is possible to shift towards a healthier, more sustainable dietary pattern. This change is not only critical for improving public health but also for ensuring the sustainability of our food system.

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The Standard American Diet

Every child needs a good school lunch, norman rockwell, “freedom from want”.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt imagined a world founded upon Four Freedoms — “freedom from want,” “freedom from fear,” “freedom of speech,” and “freedom of worship.” Artist Norman Rockwell painted a series of paintings visualizing these four freedoms, each paired with short essays.  Rockwell’s painting evoked a traditional, all-white cast sitting down to an idealized American holiday meal. But the accompanying essay was written by a Filipino American, Carlos Bulosan, detailing the experiences of the migrant farm workers of color who kept dining tables like this one full.

Carlos Bulosan, “Freedom From Want”

When Norman Rockwell’s famous painting ran in The Saturday Evening Post , it was accompanied by an essay written by Carlos Bulosan, a Filipino American migrant worker. His essay about labor, farm life, and hunger offers a stunning juxtaposition against Rockwell’s imagining of a white, middle-class family’s holiday feast.

We have been marching for the last 150 years. We sacrifice our individual liberties, and sometimes we fail and suffer. Sometimes we divide into separate groups and our methods conflict, though we all aim at one common goal. The significant thing is that we march on without turning back. What we want is peace, not violence. We know that we thrive and prosper only in peace.

We are bleeding where clubs are smashing heads, where bayonets are gleaming. We are fighting where the bullet is crashing upon armorless citizens, where the tear gas is choking unprotected children. Under the lynch trees, amidst hysterical mobs. Where the prisoner is beaten to confess a crime he did not commit. Where the honest man is hanged because he told the truth.

We are the sufferers who suffer for natural love of man for another man, who commemorate the humanities of every man. We are the creators of abundance.

We are the desires of anonymous men. We are the subways of suffering, the well of dignities. We are the living testament of a flowering race.

But our march to freedom is not complete unless want is annihilated. The America we hope to see is not merely a physical but also a spiritual and an intellectual world. We are the mirror of what America is. If America wants us to be living and free, then we must be living and free. If we fail, then America fails.

What do we want? We want complete security and peace. We want to share the promises and fruits of American life. We want to be free from fear and hunger.

— Carlos Bulosan, Filipino American migrant worker, 1943

Ration D, pictured in Life magazine

During World War II, food scientists from companies like Kellogg’s and Hershey created new products that stored easily and did not spoil in various climates. Wherever they were deployed in the world, troops were supplied with a common set of innovative rations. One was Ration D, a densely caloric “energy bar” made of oats and chocolate, intentionally designed by Hershey to taste bad so that troops would save them for emergencies. After the war ended, innovations in food processing, packaging, and the use of preservatives carried over into everyday products.

Japanese American Children at Minidoka Camp in Idaho

120,000 Japanese Americans spent the war years as hostages, forcibly relocated to so-called “internment camps” by a xenophobic and unconstitutional federal policy after the attack on Pearl Harbor.  “Evacuees” were unable to work or to grow their own food, so they ate according to the dictates of the federal government — meager and culturally unfamiliar mainstays of the Standard American Diet. A few Issei (first generation Japanese immigrants) staged hunger strikes, but for the most part, experiences in the camps accelerated trends of culinary assimilation for Nisei (Japanese Americans born in the U.S.).

Weenie Royale: Food and the Japanese Internment

Listen to Japanese Americans share stories of how internment shaped their family foodways in this NPR segment by the Kitchen Sisters.

“New Frigidaire Refrigerators!” by General Motors

Boosted by savings, maturing bonds, and low-interest loans from post-New Deal agencies, thousands of white middle-class families bought new homes in new suburban tracts after the war. Major companies like General Motors helped furnish, while advertisers portrayed this post-war age of mass consumerism. Suburban women received special recognition from the ad men who continually urged them to upgrade their kitchen appliances. With war-tested equipment, any suburban ranch-style house had the technological potential to feed a small army — of children, as it turned out for many.

Betty’s First TV Show

A growing food publishing industry began teaching the average household how to prepare the “Standard American Diet.” In 1954, General Mills sponsored a radio show with the archetypal “Betty Crocker,” performed by Adelaide Hawley, nine times a week. 8.4 million households tuned in to this popular program monthly. After the war, Betty Crocker informed wives that they owed their husbands and children hearty meals and relief from culinary “monotony.” To this day, kitchen duty in the suburban home is gendered, and thus invisible and uncompensated, labor.

Harvey Levenstein, Paradox of Plenty: A Social History of Eating in Modern America (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2003).

Roadside View of McDonald’s

Simple meals from McDonald’s — the hamburger, milkshake, and fries — were emblematic of widespread adoption of the meat-and-dairy-heavy “Standard American Diet.” The McDonald brothers built the modern drive-in restaurant, having customers stop their cars and give their orders through a kitchen window. This sped up service, but the McDonald brothers wanted even more efficiency. They hired consulting engineers from Environmental-Safety Consultants, a California firm that had invented wartime food distribution techniques, to redesign their kitchens for “quality, service, cleanliness, and value.”

Gonzales family photograph, Chicago

The 1950’s saw a reversal in policy as Congress sought to end all federal obligations to tribes. Citing widespread poverty and unemployment on reservations, government officials initiated tribal “termination.” Approximately 100 tribes and bands lost federal recognition, and millions of acres of tribal land became available for sale. Government officials distributed “relocation literature” promising one-way transportation to more prosperous lives in cities with industrial jobs, modern homes, and cars. These were empty promises. Like some 750,000 people who migrated to cities through these efforts, Ms. Gonzales and her son, both Arapahos from Santa Fe, “relocated” to the Chicago kitchenette pictured here. Indigenous people struggled to find housing and good jobs, facing worse hunger in cities than before. Government officials would later admit the “relocation” program was “a one-way ticket from rural to urban poverty. “

Soviet Officials and Ice Cream

The highly managed communist food system in Soviet Russia offered a sharply contrasting approach to the American capitalist food system. In January 1959, Soviet official Anastas Mikoyan encountered the U.S. free enterprise food system during an unofficial visit. This picture of Mikoyan visiting a supermarket captured his curiosity at an open cooler filled with boxes of ice cream, signifying the availability of cheap, reliable electricity for refrigeration in stores and homes, the reliance of Americans on dairy as part of the “Standard American Diet,” and an economy thriving on imported sugar from plantations on Caribbean islands.

The Bracero Program

From 1942 to 1964, most food production in the U.S. was done by migrants from Mexico known as “braceros.” The Bracero Program allayed fears of a massive wartime labor shortage by allowing for the temporary importation of workers from Mexico as replacements. Ranchers and agricultural growers relied on braceros for “stoop labor” and successfully lobbied for the program’s extension well past the end of the war. Mexican-American journalist Rubén Salazar traveled to the San Luis Rey labor camp in 1962, where the “chow line” served braceros three meals of tortillas and other culturally-relevant foods a day.  

Rubén Salazar, “Braceros Cast in Complex Role,” Los Angeles Times, Nov. 26, 1962, p. 3.

Hot Dog, Roy Lichtenstein

Roy Lichtenstein ranks among the most celebrated artists of a postwar movement known as Pop Art, a populist revolt against the high-minded, abstract styles of the prior generation. Starting in 1960, a few commercially trained illustrators began ironically exhibiting paintings to replicate familiar images from advertising, packaging, publishing, and filmmaking. Andy Warhol famously began painting and repainting Campbell’s soup cans. In comic book style, Roy Lichtenstein’s 1964 “Hot Dog” portrayed a quintessential summer snack as heroic — or villainous — as a comic book character.

Boosted by the benefits of the G.I. Bill after the war, many white veterans and their families settled permanently in sprawling new suburbs around cities. The geographic ties many families previously had to their home communities and regional customs were broken, eroding cultural and regional food traditions in favor of widespread adoption of the “Standard American Diet” (SAD).

The SAD had its roots in rural, Midwestern, middle-class life, centered on beef, dairy, and wheat production. New federal nutrition standards made these staple foods foundational parts of the military food system delivering nutritious meals to deployed troops. Food technologies developed during the war made it possible to produce and deliver those meals efficiently and cheaply. 

The SAD also played a key role in the postwar economy, with Americans relying more on processed and prepared foods like canned, boxed, and frozen meals that were heated and served at home. Advertisers hailed the ideal consumer as a white, stay-at-home wife who relished in new homemaking technologies, and popular television validated this gendered myth of mass domesticity. But many women worked as well — both in the traditional workforce and in domestic roles. Access to the SAD was limited among the most disadvantaged communities of color, and so more distinctive cuisines survived among racialized subgroups mostly living outside the suburbs in the postwar era. 

Levenstein, Harvey.  Paradox of Plenty: A Social History of Eating in Modern America (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2003).

During World War II, companies that won military contracts became players in an economically concentrated food system that fed Americans a mass-produced diet of meat, dairy, and starch. While for generations Americans residing in different parts of the country ate in distinctive ways, a new “Standard American Diet” emerged in the postwar years. 

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Why Are So Many Americans So Unhealthy?

In our fast-paced world, there’s an overabundance of foods that are harmful to our health. While most people realize that eating a steady diet of hamburgers, French fries, and soft drinks isn’t beneficial for our health, the convenience of junk or fast food is a dangerous trap that many in our society fall into on a consistent basis.

The Diet Downfall

The standard American diet (SAD), or Western pattern diet (WPD), is filled with pro-inflammatory and allergenic foods, many of which are laced with artificial chemicals. This diet can damage and prematurely age your brain and increase your risk for many physical and mental issues.

The SAD diet is largely composed of unhealthy foods that Dr. Daniel Amen refers to as weapons of mass destruction . These foods are:

• Highly processed- essential nutrients lost
• Pro-inflammatory- injurious to muscles, joints, and organs
• Artificially colored and sweetened- toxic to the liver and other organs
• High glycemic index- overworks the body’s sugar processing system
• Low in fiber- robs probiotics of the food they need
• Laden with hormones- can adversely affect the body’s delicate hormone balance
• Pesticide sprayed- toxic to humans
• Tainted with antibiotics- harmful to probiotics

This diet typically is high in sodium, refined sugars, omega-6 fatty acids , trans fats, and excess calories. It’s also low in the vitally important long-chain omega-3 fatty acids, EPA and DHA. People who maintain a diet loaded with simple carbohydrates (such as bread, pasta, potatoes, rice, fruit juices, and sugar) have an increased risk for problems with their digestive system, liver, pancreas, heart, circulation, and overall brain health.

A SAD Study

According to a recent study , published by the Royal Society, consuming the SAD diet for just one week may decrease learning and increase desire to munch on junk food. For this trial, volunteers spent one week splurging on high-fat foods and sweet treats with high amounts of added sugar. The SAD diet led to worse performance on memory tests and an increased desire to overeat junk food after they had finished consuming a meal.

The researchers suggest that the typical Western diet – think high-glycemic foods like waffles and high-fat fare like milkshakes – can rapidly impair function in the region of the brain called the hippocampus. One of the brain’s major memory centers, the hippocampus is also involved in appetite regulation. Dysfunction in this area is associated with memory issues and troubles with appetite control.

This study is just the latest to confirm the strong relationship between what you put in your mouth and the moment-by-moment functioning of your brain. Its finding suggests a vicious cycle where eating junk food impairs hippocampal function and appetite control, which leads to craving more junk food, and so on. It helps explain why the SAD diet is contributing to widespread weight problems in America where approximately 70% of the population is overweight, and 40% fall into the obese category.

Fast Food, Low Mood

On the island with fast food, 16% of the people had moderate-to-severe mood issues, compared to only 3% on the island without fast food. That’s a 500% increased risk of low mood, based on diet. This study doesn’t prove fast food causes mood challenges, but it does suggest a suspicious connection.

Good Mood Foods

Making healthier choices in your diet can benefit your waistline, help lift your mood, and provide a long-lasting increase in energy and focus. Your brain requires foods that are high in vitamins, essential minerals, and other nutrients to help meet its huge energy requirements throughout the day.

Consider adding these good mood foods to your grocery list: fresh vegetables , fruits, seeds, nuts, berries, beans, free-range poultry, grass-fed meats, and wild-caught, cold-water fish. This diet tends to be higher in omega-3 fatty acids, folate, fiber , and many essential vitamins and minerals.

Brain Healthy Supplements

Due to the poor nutritional quality of the SAD diet, many people aren’t receiving proper nutrition from the foods they eat. Even those who eat a relatively healthy diet may find it challenging to get all the nutrients they need daily. By only eating foods, there will always be a gap in nutrition .

To help fill that gap, it’s essential to get energy-enhancing, stress-reducing nutrients. That’s where supplements come in. The reason they’re called supplements is because they supplement your diet with the nutrients you might be missing by fueling your body with food alone.

In a society where eating fast or processed food, consuming massive amounts of sugar, skimping on sleep, drinking too much caffeine and/or alcohol and not enough water, and consistently passing up on exercise has become the norm, supplements aren’t just a good idea, they’re critical to supporting and optimizing your health.

Daily Essentials

BrainMD has developed several products that are essential for everyone’s nutritional needs: our premium multivitamin, NeuroVite Plus , ultra-concentrated EPA and DHA fish oil, Omega-3 Power , and high-purity Vitamin D3 5000 .

Our line of over 30 supplement products was designed to support a wide range of individual needs and is the only line of dietary supplements available today that was specifically developed to address the full spectrum of brain health concerns.

Never Too Late

Even if you’ve been eating the SAD diet your whole life, there is hope. Though eating junk food is bad for the brain, it’s never too late to start fueling your brain with healthy foods that boost brain function.

Feeding your brain and body with healthy foods, and high-quality, brain directed supplements, can provide tremendous nutritional health support for you and everyone in your family.

At BrainMD, we’re dedicated to providing the highest purity nutrients to improve your energy, focus, mood, stress, immunity, and overall well-being. For more information about our full list of brain healthy supplements, please visit us at BrainMD .

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ENG 1510: The American Diet -- Lisa Byrne: Welcome!

• Description
• Other Resources

This guide is for students enrolled in Lisa Byrne’s English 1510 course. We hope it will help in the successful completion of your  assignments and major class project. If you need research help at any time, be sure to  Ask A Librarian .

About This Guide

The purpose of the course guide is to help you easily locate required resources for your ENG 1510 class project. Use this guide to:

• p roduce a profile of the American diet
• explore how foods relate to the way Americans appear, interact, and operate
• understand what issues confront Americans based on their diet
• determine what Americans can do to lead a healthier lifestyle

ENG 1510 Textbook Link

Guide to writing.

• Next: Definition >>
• Last Updated: Mar 27, 2024 2:24 PM
• URL: https://libguides.oaklandcc.edu/AmericanDiet

12.4 Annotated Student Sample: "Healthy Diets from Sustainable Sources Can Save the Earth" by Lily Tran

Learning outcomes.

By the end of this section, you will be able to:

• Analyze how writers use evidence in research writing.
• Analyze the ways a writer incorporates sources into research writing, while retaining their own voice.
• Explain the use of headings as organizational tools in research writing.
• Analyze how writers use evidence to address counterarguments when writing a research essay.

Introduction

In this argumentative research essay for a first-year composition class, student Lily Tran creates a solid, focused argument and supports it with researched evidence. Throughout the essay, she uses this evidence to support cause-and-effect and problem-solution reasoning, make strong appeals, and develop her ethos on the topic.

Living by Their Own Words

Food as change.

public domain text For the human race to have a sustainable future, massive changes in the way food is produced, processed, and distributed are necessary on a global scale. end public domain text

annotated text Purpose. Lily Tran refers to what she sees as the general purpose for writing this paper: the problem of current global practices in food production, processing, and distribution. By presenting the “problem,” she immediately prepares readers for her proposed solution. end annotated text

public domain text The required changes will affect nearly all aspects of life, including not only world hunger but also health and welfare, land use and habitats, water quality and availability, energy use and production, greenhouse gas emissions and climate change, economics, and even cultural and social values. These changes may not be popular, but they are imperative. The human race must turn to sustainable food systems that provide healthy diets with minimal environmental impact—and starting now. end public domain text

annotated text Thesis. Leading up to this clear, declarative thesis statement are key points on which Tran will expand later. In doing this, she presents some foundational evidence that connects the problem to the proposed solution. end annotated text

THE COMING FOOD CRISIS

public domain text The world population has been rising exponentially in modern history. From 1 billion in 1804, it doubled to approximately 2 billion by 1927, then doubled again to approximately 4 billion in 1974. By 2019, it had nearly doubled again, rising to 7.7 billion (“World Population by Year”). It has been projected to reach nearly 10 billion by 2050 (Berners-Lee et al.). At the same time, the average life span also has been increasing. These situations have led to severe stress on the environment, particularly in the demands for food. It has been estimated, for example, that by 2050, milk production will increase 58 percent and meat production 73 percent (Chai et al.). end public domain text

annotated text Evidence. In this first supporting paragraph, Tran uses numerical evidence from several sources. This numerical data as evidence helps establish the projection of population growth. By beginning with such evidence, Tran underscores the severity of the situation. end annotated text

public domain text Theoretically, the planet can produce enough food for everyone, but human activities have endangered this capability through unsustainable practices. Currently, agriculture produces 10–23 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions. Greenhouse gases—the most common being carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and water vapor— trap heat in the atmosphere, reradiate it, and send it back to Earth again. Heat trapped in the atmosphere is a problem because it causes unnatural global warming as well as air pollution, extreme weather conditions, and respiratory diseases. end public domain text

annotated text Audience. With her audience in mind, Tran briefly explains the problem of greenhouse gases and global warming. end annotated text

public domain text It has been estimated that global greenhouse gas emissions will increase by as much as 150 percent by 2030 (Chai et al.). Transportation also has a negative effect on the environment when foods are shipped around the world. As Joseph Poore of the University of Oxford commented, “It’s essential to be mindful about everything we consume: air-transported fruit and veg can create more greenhouse gas emissions per kilogram than poultry meat, for example” (qtd. in Gray). end public domain text

annotated text Transition. By beginning this paragraph with her own transition of ideas, Tran establishes control over the organization and development of ideas. Thus, she retains her sources as supports and does not allow them to dominate her essay. end annotated text

public domain text Current practices have affected the nutritional value of foods. Concentrated animal-feeding operations, intended to increase production, have had the side effect of decreasing nutritional content in animal protein and increasing saturated fat. One study found that an intensively raised chicken in 2017 contained only one-sixth of the amount of omega-3 fatty acid, an essential nutrient, that was in a chicken in 1970. Today the majority of calories in chicken come from fat rather than protein (World Wildlife Fund). end public domain text

annotated text Example. By focusing on an example (chicken), Tran uses specific research data to develop the nuance of the argument. end annotated text

public domain text Current policies such as government subsidies that divert food to biofuels are counterproductive to the goal of achieving adequate global nutrition. Some trade policies allow “dumping” of below-cost, subsidized foods on developing countries that should instead be enabled to protect their farmers and meet their own nutritional needs (Sierra Club). Too often, agriculture’s objectives are geared toward maximizing quantities produced per acre rather than optimizing output of critical nutritional needs and protection of the environment. end public domain text

AREAS OF CONCERN

Hunger and nutrition.

annotated text Headings and Subheadings. Throughout the essay, Tran has created headings and subheadings to help organize her argument and clarify it for readers. end annotated text

public domain text More than 820 million people around the world do not have enough to eat. At the same time, about a third of all grains and almost two-thirds of all soybeans, maize, and barley crops are fed to animals (Barnard). According to the World Health Organization, 462 million adults are underweight, 47 million children under 5 years of age are underweight for their height, 14.3 million are severely underweight for their height, and 144 million are stunted (“Malnutrition”). About 45 percent of mortality among children under 5 is linked to undernutrition. These deaths occur mainly in low- and middle-income countries where, in stark contrast, the rate of childhood obesity is rising. Globally, 1.9 billion adults and 38.3 million children are overweight or obese (“Obesity”). Undernutrition and obesity can be found in the same household, largely a result of eating energy-dense foods that are high in fat and sugars. The global impact of malnutrition, which includes both undernutrition and obesity, has lasting developmental, economic, social, and medical consequences. end public domain text

public domain text In 2019, Berners-Lee et al. published the results of their quantitative analysis of global and regional food supply. They determined that significant changes are needed on four fronts: end public domain text

Food production must be sufficient, in quantity and quality, to feed the global population without unacceptable environmental impacts. Food distribution must be sufficiently efficient so that a diverse range of foods containing adequate nutrition is available to all, again without unacceptable environmental impacts. Socio-economic conditions must be sufficiently equitable so that all consumers can access the quantity and range of foods needed for a healthy diet. Consumers need to be able to make informed and rational choices so that they consume a healthy and environmentally sustainable diet (10).

annotated text Block Quote. The writer has chosen to present important evidence as a direct quotation, using the correct format for direct quotations longer than four lines. See Section Editing Focus: Integrating Sources and Quotations for more information about block quotes. end annotated text

public domain text Among their findings, they singled out, in particular, the practice of using human-edible crops to produce meat, dairy, and fish for the human table. Currently 34 percent of human-edible crops are fed to animals, a practice that reduces calorie and protein supplies. They state in their report, “If society continues on a ‘business-as-usual’ dietary trajectory, a 119% increase in edible crops grown will be required by 2050” (1). Future food production and distribution must be transformed into systems that are nutritionally adequate, environmentally sound, and economically affordable. end public domain text

Land and Water Use

public domain text Agriculture occupies 40 percent of Earth’s ice-free land mass (Barnard). While the net area used for producing food has been fairly constant since the mid-20th century, the locations have shifted significantly. Temperate regions of North America, Europe, and Russia have lost agricultural land to other uses, while in the tropics, agricultural land has expanded, mainly as a result of clearing forests and burning biomass (Willett et al.). Seventy percent of the rainforest that has been cut down is being used to graze livestock (Münter). Agricultural use of water is of critical concern both quantitatively and qualitatively. Agriculture accounts for about 70 percent of freshwater use, making it “the world’s largest water-consuming sector” (Barnard). Meat, dairy, and egg production causes water pollution, as liquid wastes flow into rivers and to the ocean (World Wildlife Fund and Knorr Foods). According to the Hertwich et al., “the impacts related to these activities are unlikely to be reduced, but rather enhanced, in a business-as-usual scenario for the future” (13). end public domain text

annotated text Statistical Data. To develop her points related to land and water use, Tran presents specific statistical data throughout this section. Notice that she has chosen only the needed words of these key points to ensure that she controls the development of the supporting point and does not overuse borrowed source material. end annotated text

annotated text Defining Terms. Aware of her audience, Tran defines monocropping , a term that may be unfamiliar. end annotated text

public domain text Earth’s resources and ability to absorb pollution are limited, and many current agricultural practices undermine these capacities. Among these unsustainable practices are monocropping [growing a single crop year after year on the same land], concentrated animal-feeding operations, and overdependence on manufactured pesticides and fertilizers (Hamilton). Such practices deplete the soil, dramatically increase energy use, reduce pollinator populations, and lead to the collapse of resource supplies. One study found that producing one gram of beef for human consumption requires 42 times more land, 2 times more water, and 4 times more nitrogen than staple crops. It also creates 3 times more greenhouse gas emissions (Chai et al.). The EAT– Lancet Commission calls for “halting expansion of new agricultural land at the expense of natural ecosystems . . . strict protections on intact ecosystems, suspending concessions for logging in protected areas, or conversion of remaining intact ecosystems, particularly peatlands and forest areas” (Willett et al. 481). The Commission also calls for land-use zoning, regulations prohibiting land clearing, and incentives for protecting natural areas, including forests. end public domain text

annotated text Synthesis. The paragraphs above and below this comment show how Tran has synthesized content from several sources to help establish and reinforce key supports of her essay . end annotated text

Greenhouse Gas and Climate Change

public domain text Climate change is heavily affected by two factors: greenhouse gas emissions and carbon sequestration. In nature, the two remain in balance; for example, most animals exhale carbon dioxide, and most plants capture carbon dioxide. Carbon is also captured, or sequestered, by soil and water, especially oceans, in what are called “sinks.” Human activities have skewed this balance over the past two centuries. The shift in land use, which exploits land, water, and fossil energy, has caused increased greenhouse-gas emissions, which in turn accelerate climate change. end public domain text

public domain text Global food systems are threatened by climate change because farmers depend on relatively stable climate systems to plan for production and harvest. Yet food production is responsible for up to 30 percent of greenhouse gas emissions (Barnard). While soil can be a highly effective means of carbon sequestration, agricultural soils have lost much of their effectiveness from overgrazing, erosion, overuse of chemical fertilizer, and excess tilling. Hamilton reports that the world’s cultivated and grazed soils have lost 50 to 70 percent of their ability to accumulate and store carbon. As a result, “billions of tons of carbon have been released into the atmosphere.” end public domain text

annotated text Direct Quotation and Paraphrase. While Tran has paraphrased some content of this source borrowing, because of the specificity and impact of the number— “billions of tons of carbon”—she has chosen to use the author’s original words. As she has done elsewhere in the essay, she has indicated these as directly borrowed words by placing them within quotation marks. See Section 12.5 for more about paraphrasing. end annotated text

public domain text While carbon sequestration has been falling, greenhouse gas emissions have been increasing as a result of the production, transport, processing, storage, waste disposal, and other life stages of food production. Agriculture alone is responsible for fully 10 to 12 percent of global emissions, and that figure is estimated to rise by up to 150 percent of current levels by 2030 (Chai et al.). Münter reports that “more greenhouse gas emissions are produced by growing livestock for meat than all the planes, trains, ships, cars, trucks, and all forms of fossil fuel-based transportation combined” (5). Additional greenhouse gases, methane and nitrous oxide, are produced by the decomposition of organic wastes. Methane has 25 times and nitrous oxide has nearly 300 times the global warming potential of carbon dioxide (Curnow). Agricultural and food production systems must be reformed to shift agriculture from greenhouse gas source to sink. end public domain text

Social and Cultural Values

public domain text As the Sierra Club has pointed out, agriculture is inherently cultural: all systems of food production have “the capacity to generate . . . economic benefits and ecological capital” as well as “a sense of meaning and connection to natural resources.” Yet this connection is more evident in some cultures and less so in others. Wealthy countries built on a consumer culture emphasize excess consumption. One result of this attitude is that in 2014, Americans discarded the equivalent of $165 billion worth of food. Much of this waste ended up rotting in landfills, comprised the single largest component of U.S. municipal solid waste, and contributed a substantial portion of U.S. methane emissions (Sierra Club). In low- and middle-income countries, food waste tends to occur in early production stages because of poor scheduling of harvests, improper handling of produce, or lack of market access (Willett et al.). The recent “America First” philosophy has encouraged prioritizing the economic welfare of one nation to the detriment of global welfare and sustainability. end public domain text

annotated text Synthesis and Response to Claims. Here, as in subsequent sections, while still relying heavily on facts and content from borrowed sources, Tran provides her synthesized understanding of the information by responding to key points. end annotated text

public domain text In response to claims that a vegetarian diet is a necessary component of sustainable food production and consumption, Lusk and Norwood determined the importance of meat in a consumer’s diet. Their study indicated that meat is the most valuable food category to consumers, and “humans derive great pleasure from consuming beef, pork, and poultry” (120). Currently only 4 percent of Americans are vegetarians, and it would be difficult to convince consumers to change their eating habits. Purdy adds “there’s the issue of philosophy. A lot of vegans aren’t in the business of avoiding animal products for the sake of land sustainability. Many would prefer to just leave animal husbandry out of food altogether.” end public domain text

public domain text At the same time, consumers expect ready availability of the foods they desire, regardless of health implications or sustainability of sources. Unhealthy and unsustainable foods are heavily marketed. Out-of-season produce is imported year-round, increasing carbon emissions from air transportation. Highly processed and packaged convenience foods are nutritionally inferior and waste both energy and packaging materials. Serving sizes are larger than necessary, contributing to overconsumption and obesity. Snack food vending machines are ubiquitous in schools and public buildings. What is needed is a widespread attitude shift toward reducing waste, choosing local fruits and vegetables that are in season, and paying attention to how foods are grown and transported. end public domain text

annotated text Thesis Restated. Restating her thesis, Tran ends this section by advocating for a change in attitude to bring about sustainability. end annotated text

DISSENTING OPINIONS

annotated text Counterclaims . Tran uses equally strong research to present the counterargument. Presenting both sides by addressing objections is important in constructing a clear, well-reasoned argument. Writers should use as much rigor in finding research-based evidence to counter the opposition as they do to develop their argument. end annotated text

public domain text Transformation of the food production system faces resistance for a number of reasons, most of which dispute the need for plant-based diets. Historically, meat has been considered integral to athletes’ diets and thus has caused many consumers to believe meat is necessary for a healthy diet. Lynch et al. examined the impact of plant-based diets on human physical health, environmental sustainability, and exercise performance capacity. The results show “it is unlikely that plant-based diets provide advantages, but do not suffer from disadvantages, compared to omnivorous diets for strength, anaerobic, or aerobic exercise performance” (1). end public domain text

public domain text A second objection addresses the claim that land use for animal-based food production contributes to pollution and greenhouse gas emissions and is inefficient in terms of nutrient delivery. Berners-Lee et al. point out that animal nutrition from grass, pasture, and silage comes partially from land that cannot be used for other purposes, such as producing food directly edible by humans or for other ecosystem services such as biofuel production. Consequently, nutritional losses from such land use do not fully translate into losses of human-available nutrients (3). end public domain text

annotated text Paraphrase. Tran has paraphrased the information as support. Though she still cites the source, she has changed the words to her own, most likely to condense a larger amount of original text or to make it more accessible. end annotated text

public domain text While this objection may be correct, it does not address the fact that natural carbon sinks are being destroyed to increase agricultural land and, therefore, increase greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere. end public domain text

public domain text Another significant dissenting opinion is that transforming food production will place hardships on farmers and others employed in the food industry. Farmers and ranchers make a major investment in their own operations. At the same time, they support jobs in related industries, as consumers of farm machinery, customers at local businesses, and suppliers for other industries such as food processing (Schulz). Sparks reports that “livestock farmers are being unfairly ‘demonized’ by vegans and environmental advocates” and argues that while farming includes both costs and benefits, the costs receive much more attention than the benefits. end public domain text

FUTURE GENERATIONS

public domain text The EAT– Lancet Commission calls for a transformation in the global food system, implementing different core processes and feedback. This transformation will not happen unless there is “widespread, multi-sector, multilevel action to change what food is eaten, how it is produced, and its effects on the environment and health, while providing healthy diets for the global population” (Willett et al. 476). System changes will require global efforts coordinated across all levels and will require governments, the private sector, and civil society to share a common vision and goals. Scientific modeling indicates 10 billion people could indeed be fed a healthy and sustainable diet. end public domain text

annotated text Conclusion. While still using research-based sources as evidence in the concluding section, Tran finishes with her own words, restating her thesis. end annotated text

public domain text For the human race to have a sustainable future, massive changes in the way food is produced, processed, and distributed are necessary on a global scale. The required changes will affect nearly all aspects of life, including not only world hunger but also health and welfare, land use and habitats, water quality and availability, energy use and production, greenhouse gas emissions and climate change, economics, and even cultural and social values. These changes may not be popular, but they are imperative. They are also achievable. The human race must turn to sustainable food systems that provide healthy diets with minimal environmental impact, starting now. end public domain text

annotated text Sources. Note two important aspects of the sources chosen: 1) They represent a range of perspectives, and 2) They are all quite current. When exploring a contemporary topic, it is important to avoid research that is out of date. end annotated text

Works Cited

Barnard, Neal. “How Eating More Plants Can Save Lives and the Planet.” Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine , 24 Jan. 2019, www.pcrm.org/news/blog/how-eating-more-plants-can-save-lives-and-planet. Accessed 6 Dec. 2020.

Berners-Lee, M., et al. “Current Global Food Production Is Sufficient to Meet Human Nutritional Needs in 2050 Provided There Is Radical Societal Adaptation.” Elementa: Science of the Anthropocene , vol. 6, no. 52, 2018, doi:10.1525/elementa.310. Accessed 7 Dec. 2020.

Chai, Bingli Clark, et al. “Which Diet Has the Least Environmental Impact on Our Planet? A Systematic Review of Vegan, Vegetarian and Omnivorous Diets.” Sustainability , vol. 11, no. 15, 2019, doi: underline 10.3390/su11154110 end underline . Accessed 6 Dec. 2020.

Curnow, Mandy. “Managing Manure to Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions.” Government of Western Australia, Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development, 2 Nov. 2020, www.agric.wa.gov.au/climate-change/managing-manure-reduce-greenhouse-gas-emissions. Accessed 9 Dec. 2020.

Gray, Richard. “Why the Vegan Diet Is Not Always Green.” BBC , 13 Feb. 2020, www.bbc.com/future/article/20200211-why-the-vegan-diet-is-not-always-green. Accessed 6 Dec. 2020.

Hamilton, Bruce. “Food and Our Climate.” Sierra Club, 2014, www.sierraclub.org/compass/2014/10/food-and-our-climate. Accessed 6 Dec. 2020.

Hertwich. Edgar G., et al. Assessing the Environmental Impacts of Consumption and Production. United Nations Environment Programme, 2010, www.resourcepanel.org/reports/assessing-environmental-impacts-consumption-and-production.

Lusk, Jayson L., and F. Bailey Norwood. “Some Economic Benefits and Costs of Vegetarianism.” Agricultural and Resource Economics Review , vol. 38, no. 2, 2009, pp. 109-24, doi: 10.1017/S1068280500003142. Accessed 6 Dec. 2020.

Lynch Heidi, et al. “Plant-Based Diets: Considerations for Environmental Impact, Protein Quality, and Exercise Performance.” Nutrients, vol. 10, no. 12, 2018, doi:10.3390/nu10121841. Accessed 6 Dec. 2020.

Münter, Leilani. “Why a Plant-Based Diet Will Save the World.” Health and the Environment. Disruptive Women in Health Care & the United States Environmental Protection Agency, 2012, archive.epa.gov/womenandgirls/web/pdf/1016healththeenvironmentebook.pdf.

Purdy, Chase. “Being Vegan Isn’t as Good for Humanity as You Think.” Quartz , 4 Aug. 2016, qz.com/749443/being-vegan-isnt-as-environmentally-friendly-as-you-think/. Accessed 7 Dec. 2020.

Schulz, Lee. “Would a Sudden Loss of the Meat and Dairy Industry, and All the Ripple Effects, Destroy the Economy?” Iowa State U Department of Economics, www.econ.iastate.edu/node/691. Accessed 6 Dec. 2020.

Sierra Club. “Agriculture and Food.” Sierra Club, 28 Feb. 2015, www.sierraclub.org/policy/agriculture/food. Accessed 6 Dec. 2020.

Sparks, Hannah. “Veganism Won’t Save the World from Environmental Ruin, Researchers Warn.” New York Post , 29 Nov. 2019, nypost.com/2019/11/29/veganism-wont-save-the-world-from-environmental-ruin-researchers-warn/. Accessed 6 Dec. 2020.

Willett, Walter, et al. “Food in the Anthropocene: The EAT– Lancet Commission on Healthy Diets from Sustainable Food Systems.” The Lancet, vol. 393, no. 10170, 2019. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(18)31788-4. Accessed 6 Dec. 2020.

World Health Organization. “Malnutrition.” World Health Organization, 1 Apr. 2020, www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/malnutrition. Accessed 8 Dec. 2020.

World Health Organization. “Obesity and Overweight.” World Health Organization, 1 Apr. 2020, www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/obesity-and-overweight. Accessed 8 Dec. 2020.

World Wildlife Fund. Appetite for Destruction: Summary Report. World Wildlife Fund, 2017, www.wwf.org.uk/sites/default/files/2017-10/WWF_AppetiteForDestruction_Summary_Report_SignOff.pdf.

World Wildlife Fund and Knorr Foods. Future Fifty Foods. World Wildlife Fund, 2019, www.wwf.org.uk/sites/default/files/2019-02/Knorr_Future_50_Report_FINAL_Online.pdf.

“World Population by Year.” Worldometer , www.worldometers.info/world-population/world-population-by-year/. Accessed 8 Dec. 2020.

Discussion Questions

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Poor Nutrition

Measure Breastfeeding Practices and Eating Patterns

Support breastfeeding in the hospital and community, offer healthier food options in early care and education facilities and schools, offer healthier food options in the workplace, improve access to healthy foods in states and communities, support lifestyle change programs to reduce obesity and type 2 diabetes risk.

Good nutrition is essential to keeping current and future generations healthy across the lifespan. A healthy diet helps children grow and develop properly and reduces their risk of chronic diseases. Adults who eat a healthy diet live longer and have a lower risk of obesity, heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and certain cancers. Healthy eating can help people with chronic diseases manage these conditions and avoid complications.

However, when healthy options are not available, people may settle for foods that are higher in calories and lower in nutritional value. People in low-income communities and some racial and ethnic groups often lack access to convenient places that offer affordable, healthier foods.

Most people in the United States don’t eat a healthy diet and consume too much sodium, saturated fat, and sugar, increasing their risk of chronic diseases. For example, fewer than 1 in 10 adolescents and adults eat enough fruits or vegetables. In addition, 6 in 10 young people aged 2 to 19 years and 5 in 10 adults consume at least one sugary drink  on any given day.

CDC supports breastfeeding and works to improve access to healthier food and drink choices in settings such as early care and education facilities, schools, worksites, and communities.

In the United States:

3 IN 4 INFANTS

are not exclusively breastfed for 6 months.

9 IN 10 AMERICANS

consume too much sodium.

1 in 6 PREGNANT WOMEN

have iron levels that are too low.

NEARLY $173 BILLION

a year is spent on health care for obesity.

The Harmful Effects of Poor Nutrition

Overweight and obesity.

Eating a healthy diet, along with getting enough physical activity and sleep, can help children grow up healthy and prevent overweight and obesity. In the United States, 20% of young people aged 2 to 19 years and 42% of adults have obesity, which can put them at risk of heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and some cancers.

Heart Disease and Stroke

Two of the leading causes of heart disease and stroke are high blood pressure and high blood cholesterol. Consuming too much sodium can increase blood pressure and the risk for heart disease and stroke . Current guidelines recommend getting less than 2,300 mg a day, but Americans consume more than 3,400 mg a day on average.

Over 70% of the sodium that Americans eat comes from packaged, processed, store-bought, and restaurant foods. Eating foods low in saturated fats and high in fiber and increasing access to low-sodium foods, along with regular physical activity, can help prevent high blood cholesterol and high blood pressure.

Type 2 Diabetes

People who are overweight or have obesity are at increased risk of type 2 diabetes compared to those at a healthybecause, over time, their bodies become less able to use the insulin they make. Of US adults, 96 million—more than 1 in 3—have  prediabetes , and more than 8 in 10 of them don’t know they have it. Although the rate of new cases has decreased in recent years, the number of adults with diagnosed diabetes has nearly doubled in the last 2 decades as the US population has increased, aged, and become more overweight.

An unhealthy diet can increase the risk of some cancers. Consuming unhealthy food and beverages, such as sugar-sweetened beverages and highly processed food, can lead to weight gain, obesity and other chronic conditions that put people at higher risk of at least 13 types of cancer, including endometrial (uterine) cancer, breast cancer in postmenopausal women, and colorectal cancer. The risk of colorectal cancer is also associated with eating red and processed meat.

CDC’s Work to Promote Good Nutrition

CDC’s Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Obesity  uses national and state surveys to track breastfeeding rates  and eating patterns  across the country, including fruit, vegetable, and added sugar consumption. The division also reports data on nutrition policies and practices  for each state. Data from these surveys  are used to understand trends in nutrition and differences between population groups.

CDC partners use this information to help support breastfeeding and encourage healthy eating  where people live, learn, work, and play, especially for populations at highest risk of chronic disease.

Breastfeeding is the best source of nutrition for most infants. It can reduce the risk of some short-term health conditions for infants and long-term health conditions for infants and mothers. Maternity care practices in the first hours and days after birth can influence whether and how long infants are breastfed.

CDC funds programs that help hospitals use maternity care practices that support breastfeeding . These programs have helped increase the percentage of infants born in hospitals that implement recommended practices 1. CDC also works with partners to support programs designed to improve continuity of care and community support for breastfeeding mothers.

Nearly 56 million US children spend time in early care and education (ECE) facilities or public schools. These settings can directly influence what children eat and drink and how active they are—and build a foundation for healthy habits.

CDC is helping our nation’s children grow up healthy and strong by:

• Creating resources to help partners improve obesity prevention programs and use nutrition standards.
• Investing in training and learning networks that help child care providers and state and local child care leaders meet standards and use and share best practices .
• Providing technical assistance, such as training school staff how to buy, prepare, and serve fruits and vegetables or teach children how to grow and prepare fruits and vegetables.

The CDC Healthy Schools  program works with states, school systems, communities, and national partners to promote good nutrition . These efforts include publishing guidelines and tips on how schools and parents can model healthy behaviors and offer healthier school meals, smart snacks , and water access.

CDC also works with national groups to increase the number of salad bars  in schools. As of 2021, the Salad Bars to School program has delivered almost 6,000 salad bars to schools across the nation, giving over 2.9 million children and school staff better access to fruits and vegetables.

Millions of US adults buy foods and drinks while at work. CDC develops and promotes food service guidelines that encourage employers and vendors to increase healthy food options  for employees. CDC-funded programs are working to make healthy foods and drinks (including water) more available in cafeterias, snack shops, and vending machines. CDC also partners with states to help employers comply with the federal lactation accommodation law and provide breastfeeding mothers with places to pump and store breast milk, flexible work hours, and maternity leave benefits.

People living in low-income urban neighborhoods, rural areas, and tribal communities often have little access to affordable, healthy foods such as fruits and vegetables. CDC’s State Physical Activity and Nutrition Program , High Obesity Program , and Racial and Ethnic Approaches to Community Health program fund states and communities to improve food systems in these areas through food hubs, local stores, farmers’ markets, and bodegas.

These programs, which also involve food vendors and distributors, help increase the variety and number of healthier foods and drinks available and help promote and market these items to customers.

CDC’s National Diabetes Prevention Program  (National DPP) is a partnership of public and private organizations working to build a nationwide delivery system for a lifestyle change program proven to prevent or delay type 2 diabetes in adults with prediabetes. Participants in the National DPP lifestyle change program learn to make healthy food choices, be more physically active, and find ways to cope with stress. These changes can cut their risk of developing type 2 diabetes by as much as 58% (71% for those over 60).

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What is America’s Food Culture?

The question, “What is America’s food culture,” produces many responses and almost always uncertainty. As Pollan mentions, America is a melting pot of many different cultures, each one bringing their own culinary traditions. New York City, where I grew up, is the epitome of this culinary melting pot. You can find almost any food from any culture if you look hard enough, from Polish bakeries, to Chinese restaurants, to burrito food trucks. You can even find fusions of these culinary traditions in restaurants, for example, a Spanish inspired sushi restaurant featuring yellowtail tacos. New York City has also latched on to the local movement. Farmers’ markets are popping up in many (upper-middle class) neighborhoods. Farm-to-Table restaurants are all the rage, showcasing produce, meat, and dairy from nearby farms. New York City is not unique in this regard—many other cities across America both have a huge variety of cultural cuisines and also promote local food. I want to think that this is the American food culture: diverse and local.

For many Americans, however, both inside and outside these cities, this food culture is out of reach. Schlosser writes that a meal of a hamburger and French fries from a fast food chain is the “quintessential American meal.” He also says that fast food, along with pop music and jeans, is one of America’s biggest “cultural exports.” This is unfortunate and true. Other countries bring their food traditions to America and they are celebrated, studied and eagerly adopted. Americans bring our food to other countries and it is seen as less sophisticated and less delicious. McDonald’s is now all over the world. This is of course an impressive feat for a company, but the food it sells is not should not make American’s proud.

I remember seeing a McDonald’s in Madrid and having two reactions. At first I felt warmth seeing the golden arches. McDonalds reminded me of home in a place where everything seemed unfamiliar. But then I thought to myself, “why would any Spaniard choose to eat this food when they have so many better options that are equally well priced?” McDonalds had upped its game a little bit in Europe—there was a focaccia burger on the menu (which I ordered)—but it didn’t compare to the ham sandwiches, potato and egg tortillas, and paella sold by the countless small restaurants on nearly every block of the city.

It will be very hard to alter the fast food culture of America. Just as I felt that slight sense of comfort seeing McDonalds abroad, many Americans love fast food because of its familiarity and consistency. I don’t know if there is a way to change the American love of fast food. I hope, however, that the local, seasonal, and sustainable food movement takes an even greater hold across the country and that this type of food becomes accessible to more people. Of course, other countries have been eating this way for a long time. (Last week we read the about Italian Petrini’s Slow Food movement.) Other countries take pride in what is regionally produced. I hope that Americans can claim this type of eating—celebrating what American land can produce rather than what can be created in a factory—as our new food culture.

19 thoughts on “ What is America’s Food Culture? ”

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Or more specifically why I think America is fatter than the rest of the world. For the past 7 months I have been living in one of the most food-obsessed countries in the entire world. The default conversation topic is food, and it is a default conversation that I love to participate in as well, being, well, food-obsessed myself. Paradoxically, this foo- obsessed country is also one of the healthiest, renowned for its Mediterranean diet. America, by contrast, is significantly less food-obsessed and significantly less healthy and also, fatter than services from http://best-essay-services.com/ . At first this situation certainly resembles a “paradox,” but it quickly begins to unravel with some simple analysis. Italians, and much of the rest of the world, think about their meals with much care and analysis before the meal ever takes place. For important occasions, such as Christmas Eve, menu discussions are frequent, and frequently revisited. Everyone has an opinion, and everyone thinks that their opinion is the most important. These conversations are undertaken with great depth, gravity, and severity. Italians may joke about less important things, like politics and the economy (both in questionable places), but rarely will you find the Italian to joke about food — it’s simply not a laughing matter.

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When anyone says”America” and “food” the first thing coming in mind is of course fast food. But really, with a bunch of other traditions like Mexican/Chinse/Thai food or something more like tradional Halloween/Thanksgiving food, the one thing you can say about Americans and food is – fast food 🙂 I don’t think there are many countries in which MacDonalds, burgers and pizza are such a food cult. But I don’t mind , I love fast food myself, I work in this paper writer service so I often can be too busy to have a peoper meal so fast food helps me out in such situations 🙂

Nina, I love your exploration of American food culture, and I think there’s a lot to unpack there. I encourage you to read Dan Barber’s book, the Third Plate, where he focuses on exactly that issue- of how to build a new American food culture that is sustainable, seasonal, and supportive of labor and the earth.

I also had the experience of going to a McDonald’s while I was in France. I ordered “Le Mac”. There is something wonderfully odd about eating at foreign McDonalds. In Japan, they have miniature pancakes that come with frosting packets, that really are divine.

Oh man I want to try those mini-pancakes. Incredible what McDonalds can do…

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Is Ketchup the Perfect Complement to the American Diet?

More than just a condiment, it helped revolutionize how food is grown, processed, and regulated.

Photo courtesy of Mike Mozart /Flickr.

By Amy Bentley | June 4, 2018

Bright red in color, tangy, sweet, salty, and replete with a “meaty,” tomato-ey umami hit, ketchup provides accents of color and flavoring, as well as a smell and texture that is familiar and comforting. It’s the perfect complement to the American diet: contrasting with salty and fatty flavors while enhancing the sweet notes in our most popular foods. And while we think of it as “merely” a condiment on what we’re really eating, it has helped to revolutionize the way food is grown, processed, and regulated.

We slather ketchup on French fries, hamburgers, and hot dogs (though ketchup with the latter is, for many, anathema). We pour it on eggs, mac and cheese, breaded and fried clam strips, and chicken fingers. We use it as an ingredient in sauces and casseroles. Back in the 1980s, politicians and activists even debated its questionable status as a vegetable in school lunches, though in later decades ketchup’s distant cousin salsa made the cut, as did tomato sauce on pizza.

Ketchup is an exemplar of New World-style industrialized food, its distinctive sweet-and-tangy flavor borne of the rigors of mass production. Quintessentially American, ketchup is seamlessly standardized and mass-produced—qualities, along with cleanliness and low cost, that Americans have traditionally valued in their food, often at the expense of taste. Shelf stability, in essence, created what we call “American flavor.”

Ketchup was not invented in the United States. It began as a fermented fish sauce—sans tomatoes—in early China. British sailors bought the sauce, called ke-tsiap or ke-tchup by 17th-century Chinese and Indonesian traders, to provide relief from the dry and mundane hardtack and salt pork they ate aboard ship. Over the next couple of centuries, ketchup spread throughout the British Empire, traveling around the world with the navy. When they returned home to England, sailors and others sought to reproduce ketchup to liven up standard, stodgy meat-and-potato dishes or stewed fish, or to add flavor to gravies and broths. Recipe writers and small manufacturers experimented to recreate the complex flavors of the sauce, substituting nuts, mushrooms, or shallots for the fish. Most cookbooks of the early 19th century included a few recipes for various kinds of ketchup.

But ketchup became truly American once it was wed with the tomato and bottled industrially. While an early ketchup recipe with tomatoes appeared in Britain in 1817, calling for “a gallon of fine, red, and full ripe tomatas [sic],” and also anchovies, shallots, salt, and a variety of spices, it was Americans who really invented tomato ketchup.

The American tomato, with its origins in what is now Mexico and South America, was introduced to Europeans and North Americans by the Spanish conquistadors, and by the 19th century had become a ubiquitous garden plant. (Earlier it had been considered unhealthy and even poisonous.) Tomatoes became the base of many a sauce or stew, and before long were bottled as concentrated, fermented ketchups, preserved with vinegar and spices much the same way housewives would make a mushroom ketchup.

But as historian Andrew Smith notes, tomato ketchup became wildly popular, its use spreading rapidly to all regions of the United States. American meals during the 19th century, much like the British diet of the time, consisted of stews, soups, rough cuts of meat, vegetables and fruits when in season, and bread, bread, and more bread. Tomato ketchup’s flavor and color literally spiced up some rather monotonous protein and grain combinations.

U.S. manufacturers began mass-producing tomato ketchup in the late 19th century—and that processing shaped the condiment’s particular flavor profile. Early bottled ketchups fermented or spoiled relatively quickly, but industrial producers found that adding extra vinegar helped preserve them. Over time, they added more and more vinegar, and then they started adding sugar, too, to balance the vinegar’s sourness. Ketchup became more sweet and more sour than it originally had been. Americans became acclimated to this particular flavor profile of commercial ketchup—which was different from the ketchups produced by home cooks. It was thicker in texture, made with more sugar, and had a brighter, more pleasing red color (thanks to additives and preserving methods) than homemade. Industrialized ketchup began influencing other American foods. As U.S. cities grew, so did the number of diners, hamburger joints, and chicken shacks—purveyors of often greasy meals that paired very well with tomato ketchup.

Food scientists at Pittsburgh-based H.J. Heinz Company eventually hit upon the perfect balance of sweet, salty, sour, and umami, creating a precisely calibrated product that was difficult for others to replicate—a “platonic ideal of ketchup,” as writer Malcolm Gladwell has noted. The Heinz Company displayed its wares at international expositions, spreading the gospel of ketchup throughout North America, the British Isles, and beyond.

On the strength of its just-right recipe, as well as its manufacturing reach and global aspirations, Heinz quickly became the leading American ketchup producer, selling 5 million bottles per year by the early 1900s.

In addition to its industrial recipes, Heinz also was instrumental in developing, perfecting, and promoting sanitary production methods, not only for its ketchup but for the dozens of products it manufactured. The company helped standardize bottle and can sterilization, insisted that workers abide by strict rules of cleanliness, and even pushed for sanitary food processing legislation. Other big food processors followed Heinz’s lead. The company made ketchup, and then ketchup influenced the way everything else was processed.

It might not be too far-fetched to argue that later in the century, after altering the way American food tasted and was regulated, ketchup also helped change the way it was grown. Innovations in tomato breeding and mechanical harvester technologies, driven in part by demand for the condiment, helped define modern industrial agriculture. In the 1960s UC Davis scientists developed a mechanical tomato harvester. Around the same time, plant geneticists perfected a tomato with a thick skin and round shape that could withstand machine harvesting and truck transport. This new tomato was arguably short on taste, but the perfect storm of breeding and harvesting technology from which it emerged allowed for a steady supply of tomatoes that kept bottlers and canners in business. Nearly all of the tomatoes produced for sauces and ketchup are products of this moment—as are many other fruits and vegetables produced in the U.S.

Heinz advertisement, from the The Boston Cooking School magazine of culinary science and domestic economics, 1896. Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons .

Early on, ketchup functioned as a great equalizer, with a “special and unprecedented ability to provide something for everyone.” Tomato ketchup became “entrenched as the primary and most popular of condimental sauces, its appeal to Americans deep and widespread,” wrote food historian Elizabeth Rozin, who called it the “Esperanto of cuisine.” Ketchup functioned as a class leveler. Regardless of income or education, Americans could drop into a roadside diner or barbeque joint. Affordable to most, a burger and fries spiked with ketchup was a democratic, delicious lowest common denominator meal. Today ketchup’s appeal is in part because it embodies principles that Americans prize including consistency, value, and cleanliness. Moreover ketchup’s use, noted Rozin, was shaped by foods and meals that are perceived as “American” in their preparation and presentation: think hamburgers and fries, “ballpark” foods, fast food in general.

The rest of the world, for better or worse, regards ketchup as emblematic of U.S. cuisine, too—and the condiment continues to shape food everywhere it goes. In Japan, people love a cuisine known as yoshoku , which they also sometimes call “Western Food.” Yoshoku restaurants use a lot of ketchup. They serve a dish called naporitan , made of cooked spaghetti that is rinsed in cold water, then stir-fried with vegetables in ketchup. Omu rice is an omelet lying over a mound of ketchup-flavored rice. The hambaagu is a Japanese version of a hamburger patty, usually served bunless. Swedes love “Depression spaghetti”—ketchup poured over pasta as a sauce, as many Americans did during the 1930s and probably still do.

Today we’re seeing the growth of artisanal ketchups that may eventually erode some of Heinz’s market share, part of the larger trend toward specialized products that feature organic ingredients, fewer artificial additives, or lower sugar levels. But industrial ketchup, with its bright red color, its vinegary and sweet flavor, and its thick texture that pairs perfectly with starches and proteins, will remain a beloved and ubiquitous condiment, influencing American eating—and increasingly, food and cooking in the rest of the world, too.

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Is the American diet a 'modern killer?'

Posted: April 6, 2024 | Last updated: April 6, 2024

'Cancer: A Food-Borne Illness' filmmaker Grace Price tells 'Jesse Watters Primetime' the U.S. diet is problematic.

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Tess korobkin receives the 20th annual frost essay award.

Courtesy of Tess Korobin.

Tess Korobkin is the recipient of the Smithsonian American Art Museum’s Patricia and Phillip Frost Essay Award for her article “ Monumental Absence: Augusta Savage’s Unbuilt Monuments, 1931–1943 ,” which appeared in the fall 2023 issue (vol. 37, no. 3) of American Art, the museum’s peer-reviewed journal for new scholarship. Korobkin’s article focuses on sculptor Augusta Savage’s proposed monuments to Black American lives and histories, including memorials to transatlantic entertainer Florence Mills, author and civil rights leader James Weldon Johnson and the World War I service of the Harlem Hellfighters. While none of these works were ever constructed, Korobkin argues Savage’s unrealized public projects raise surprising new questions about how to approach absences in the U.S.-American memorial landscape through a history of what might have been.

The jurors who awarded the $1,000 prize were Cherise Smith, the Joseph D. Jamail Chair in African American studies and professor in the African and African Diaspora studies and art and art history departments at the University of Texas at Austin; Shawn Michelle Smith, professor of visual and critical studies at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago; and Chon A. Noriega, distinguished professor in the department of film, television and digital media at the University of California, Los Angeles. All three are members of the journal’s editorial board.

The jurors praised Korobkin for her “masterful demonstration on how to conduct research and produce effective critical writing on absent subjects” noting that the text “significantly expands our understanding of Savage’s creative practice.” The panel believes Korobkin’s article “fills critical gaps in our understanding of both Augusta Savage’s work and the historiography of monuments in the United States, and effectively ties this historical work to contemporary conversations about public memory and the role public visual culture plays in shaping our imaginations both forward and backwards in time.”

The Frost Essay Award recognizes excellent scholarship in the field of American art history by honoring an essay published the previous year in American Art. Each year, the winning essay must advance the understanding of American art history and demonstrate original research and fresh ideas. The award, established in 2004, is made possible through the Patricia and Phillip Frost Endowment.

Korobkin is an alumna of the Smithsonian American Art Museum fellowship program and an assistant professor in the department of art history and archaeology at the University of Maryland, College Park.

This year, for the third time in the history of the award, the jury has given an honorable mention; it goes to Chad Elias for his article “ Islam and the Middle East in the United States: Claire Beckett’s ‘Simulating Iraq’ and ‘The Converts ,’” which also appeared in the fall 2023 issue of American Art. Elias’ essay discusses Beckett’s portraits and landscapes taken in U.S. military training centers, where fabricated Afghan and Iraqi villages help soldiers prepare for deployment. These images interrogate long held and widespread misconceptions of the region.

Elias is an associate professor in the department of art history at Dartmouth College. His research looks expansively across geographies and media to engage with debates about state-sponsored violence, archival knowledge and the epistemological claims of lens-based media.  

The journal American Art is part of the Smithsonian American Art Museum’s robust publication program of books and catalogs that complements the museum’s exhibitions and educational programs. Information about subscribing, purchasing single issues or submitting articles to the journal, which is published for the museum by the University of Chicago Press, is available online . A complete list of past Frost Essay Award winners and additional information about the award are available on the museum’s website .

About the Smithsonian American Art Museum

The Smithsonian American Art Museum is the flagship museum in the United States for American art and craft. It is home to one of the most significant and inclusive collections of American art in the world. The museum’s main building, located at Eighth and G streets N.W., is open daily from 11:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. The museum’s Renwick Gallery, a branch museum dedicated to contemporary craft, is located on Pennsylvania Avenue at 17th Street N.W. and is open daily from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Check online for current hours and admission information. Admission is free. Follow the museum on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube. Smithsonian information: (202) 633-1000. Museum information (recorded): (202) 633-7970. Website: americanart.si.edu.

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The physical sensations of watching a total solar eclipse

Regina G. Barber

Science writer David Baron witnesses his first total solar eclipse in Aruba, 1998. He says seeing one is "like you've left the solar system and are looking back from some other world." Paul Myers hide caption

Science writer David Baron witnesses his first total solar eclipse in Aruba, 1998. He says seeing one is "like you've left the solar system and are looking back from some other world."

David Baron can pinpoint the first time he got addicted to chasing total solar eclipses, when the moon completely covers up the sun. It was 1998 and he was on the Caribbean island of Aruba. "It changed my life. It was the most spectacular thing I'd ever seen," he says.

Baron, author of the 2017 book American Eclipse: A Nation's Epic Race to Catch the Shadow of the Moon and Win the Glory of the World , wants others to witness its majesty too. On April 8, millions of people across North America will get that chance — a total solar eclipse will appear in the sky. Baron promises it will be a surreal, otherworldly experience. "It's like you've left the solar system and are looking back from some other world."

Baron, who is a former NPR science reporter, talks to Life Kit about what to expect when viewing a total solar eclipse, including the sensations you may feel and the strange lighting effects in the sky. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Baron views the beginning of a solar eclipse with friends in Western Australia in 2023. Baron says getting to see the solar corona during a total eclipse is "the most dazzling sight in the heavens." Photographs by David Baron; Bronson Arcuri, Kara Frame, CJ Riculan/NPR; Collage by Becky Harlan/NPR hide caption

Baron views the beginning of a solar eclipse with friends in Western Australia in 2023. Baron says getting to see the solar corona during a total eclipse is "the most dazzling sight in the heavens."

What does it feel like to experience a total solar eclipse — those few precious minutes when the moon completely covers up the sun?

It is beautiful and absolutely magnificent. It comes on all of a sudden. As soon as the moon blocks the last rays of the sun, you're plunged into this weird twilight in the middle of the day. You look up and the blue sky has been torn away. On any given day, the blue sky overhead acts as a screen that keeps us from seeing what's in space. And suddenly that's gone. So you can look into the middle of the solar system and see the sun and the planets together.

Can you tell me about the sounds and the emotions you're feeling?

A total solar eclipse is so much more than something you just see with your eyes. It's something you experience with your whole body. [With the drop in sunlight], birds will be going crazy. Crickets may be chirping. If you're around other people, they're going to be screaming and crying [with all their emotions from seeing the eclipse]. The air temperature drops because the sunlight suddenly turns off. And you're immersed in the moon's shadow. It doesn't feel real.

Everything you need to know about solar eclipse glasses before April 8

In your 2017 Ted Talk , you said you felt like your eyesight was failing in the moments before totality. Can you go into that a little more?

The lighting effects are very weird. Before you get to the total eclipse, you have a progressive partial eclipse as the moon slowly covers the sun. So over the course of an hour [or so], the sunlight will be very slowly dimming. It's as if you're in a room in a house and someone is very slowly turning down the dimmer switch. For most of that time your eyes are adjusting and you don't notice it. But then there's a point at which the light's getting so dim that your eyes can't adjust, and weird things happen. Your eyes are less able to see color. It's as if the landscape is losing its color. Also there's an effect where the shadows get very strange.

Crescent-shaped shadows cast by the solar eclipse before it reaches totality appear on a board at an eclipse-viewing event in Antelope, Ore., 2017. Kara Frame and CJ Riculan/NPR hide caption

You see these crescents on the ground.

There are two things that happen. One is if you look under a tree, the spaces between leaves or branches will act as pinhole projectors. So you'll see tiny little crescents everywhere. But there's another effect. As the sun goes from this big orb in the sky to something much smaller, shadows grow sharper. As you're nearing the total eclipse, if you have the sun behind you and you look at your shadow on the ground, you might see individual hairs on your head. It's just very odd.

Some people might say that seeing the partial eclipse is just as good. They don't need to go to the path of totality.

A partial solar eclipse is a very interesting experience. If you're in an area where you see a deep partial eclipse, the sun will become a crescent like the moon. You can only look at it with eye protection. Don't look at it with the naked eye . The light can get eerie. It's fun, but it is not a thousandth as good as a total eclipse.

A total eclipse is a fundamentally different experience, because it's only when the moon completely blocks the sun that you can actually take off the eclipse glasses and look with the naked eye at the sun.

And you will see a sun you've never seen before. That bright surface is gone. What you're actually looking at is the sun's outer atmosphere, the solar corona. It's the most dazzling sight in the heavens. It's this beautiful textured thing. It looks sort of like a wreath or a crown made out of tinsel or strands of silk. It shimmers in space. The shape is constantly changing. And you will only see that if you're in the path of the total eclipse.

Shots - Health News

Watching a solar eclipse without the right filters can cause eye damage. here's why.

So looking at a partial eclipse is not the same?

It is not at all the same. Drive those few miles. Get into the path of totality.

This is really your chance to see a total eclipse. The next one isn't happening across the U.S. for another 20 years.

The next significant total solar eclipse in the United States won't be until 2045. That one will go from California to Florida and will cross my home state of Colorado. I've got it on my calendar.

The digital story was written by Malaka Gharib and edited by Sylvie Douglis and Meghan Keane. The visual editor is Beck Harlan. We'd love to hear from you. Leave us a voicemail at 202-216-9823, or email us at [email protected].

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Correction April 3, 2024

In a previous audio version of this story, we made reference to an upcoming 2025 total solar eclipse. The solar eclipse in question will take place in 2045.

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Cross-cultural comparison of perspectives on healthy eating among Chinese and American undergraduate students

Jinan c. banna.

1 Department of Human Nutrition, Food and Animal Sciences, College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources, Agricultural Sciences 216, University of Hawaii at Manoa, 1955 East-West Road, Honolulu, HI 96822 USA

Betsy Gilliland

2 Department of Second Language Studies, College of Languages, Linguistics and Literature, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Moore Hall 570, Honolulu, HI 96822 USA

Margaret Keefe

3 Shanghai United Family Hospital, 1139 Xianxia Road, Changning District Shanghai, 200336 China

Dongping Zheng

Associated data.

The dataset supporting the conclusions of this article is included as a Additional file 1 .

Understanding views about what constitutes a healthy diet in diverse populations may inform design of culturally tailored behavior change interventions. The objective of this study was to describe perspectives on healthy eating among Chinese and American young adults and identify similarities and differences between these groups.

Chinese ( n  = 55) and American ( n  = 57) undergraduate students in Changsha, Hunan, China and Honolulu, Hawai’i, U.S.A. composed one- to two-paragraph responses to the following prompt: “What does the phrase ‘a healthy diet’ mean to you?” Researchers used content analysis to identify predominant themes using Dedoose (version 5.2.0, SocioCultural Research Consultants, LLC, Los Angeles, CA, 2015). Three researchers independently coded essays and grouped codes with similar content. The team then identified themes and sorted them in discussion. Two researchers then deductively coded the entire data set using eight codes developed from the initial coding and calculated total code counts for each group of participants.

Chinese students mentioned physical outcomes, such as maintaining immunity and digestive health. Timing of eating, with regular meals and greater intake during day than night, was emphasized. American students described balancing among food groups and balancing consumption with exercise, with physical activity considered essential. Students also stated that food components such as sugar, salt and fat should be avoided in large quantities. Similarities included principles such as moderation and fruits and vegetables as nutritious, and differences included foods to be restricted and meal timing. While both groups emphasized specific foods and guiding dietary principles, several distinctions in viewpoints emerged.

Conclusions

The diverse views may reflect food-related messages to which participants are exposed both through the media and educational systems in their respective countries. Future studies may further examine themes that may not typically be addressed in nutrition education programs in diverse populations of young adults. Gaining greater knowledge of the ways in which healthy eating is viewed will allow for development of interventions that are sensitive to the traditional values and predominant views of health in various groups.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12889-016-3680-y) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

A healthy diet has been well established as a key part of chronic disease prevention and mortality reduction [ 1 – 3 ]. Dietary behavior change is the focus of many health promotion interventions seeking to improve health outcomes, which may motivate individuals to alter their diets by taking actions such as increasing fiber and reducing saturated fat intake [ 4 – 6 ].

In designing health promotion interventions for specific groups, understanding the target population’s health belief systems and views on proper dietary habits is critical, as individuals’ ideals about food have been found to be important determinants of food choice [ 7 ]. Studies are needed to examine what diverse populations perceive to constitute a healthy diet [ 8 ], with results informing design of culturally tailored behavior change interventions [ 9 ]. Previous research examining perspectives on healthy eating in diverse groups has revealed distinct ways in which individuals conceptualize a healthy diet. In a review of the literature examining how qualitative research has advanced understanding of the ways in which people interpret healthy eating, Bisogni et al. identified a number of ideals for healthy eating put forth by diverse cultural groups in multiple countries [ 10 ]. Participants in the reviewed studies described healthy eating in terms of specific foods (e.g. fruits and vegetables), food components (e.g. general nutrients, additives), and physical and psychosocial outcomes (e.g. energy, pleasure), among others. Individuals characterize healthy eating in diverse and complex ways, with definitions linking to eating behaviors and spanning various beliefs [ 11 ].

While a number of previous studies have examined views on healthy eating using qualitative methods, a review of the literature reveals that only three such studies have focused exclusively on young adults, a group that warrants particular attention with regards to promotion of healthy eating. In the first, examination of undergraduate Canadian females revealed that participants defined healthy eating in accordance with Canadian dietary guidelines and also mentioned organic food, eating with others, and functional foods [ 12 ]. The second study, which examined how members of a college men’s ice hockey team experienced the multiple factors influencing their food choices, also revealed participants’ notions of a healthy diet [ 13 ]. Most of the players interviewed believed that healthy foods were low-fat foods, and many associated feeling good and having high energy levels with consumption of easy-to-digest foods. Unhealthy foods, in contrast, were described as those such as fries and chips, which may promote feelings of being “bogged down.” Foods such as burgers, pizza, ice cream, cookies and cakes were viewed as tasting good but not healthy [ 13 ]. The third study, in Chinese American young adults, indicated that traditional Chinese cuisine was viewed as healthful, conferring benefits such as normal organ function, enhanced immune system, stronger, bones, and longer lifespan [ 14 ]. Further research is needed to determine which of these factors are specific to particular cultures.

Understanding perspectives on healthy eating in diverse groups of young adults is of importance in promoting health. During the transition period from adolescence to adulthood (18–31 years), not only is the presence of obesity and unhealthy habits associated with increased chronic disease risk, but young adults also gain independence and establish long-term health behavior patterns [ 15 ]. Further, young adults’ current dietary intake is not optimal; a recent study in this population in the U.S. revealed that average daily levels of 6 of the 7 nutrients of concern identified in the Dietary Guidelines were lower than recommended [ 16 ]. Similarly, in countries undergoing a nutrition transition, such as China, the introduction of a Westernized diet has led to high intake of foods rich in fat and sugar and low in fiber across the lifespan [ 17 – 19 ]. As overweight is a prevalent issue in young adults resulting from such undesirable dietary habits, this population may also engage in dieting practices to achieve weight loss that may potentially have deleterious effects on health [ 20 , 21 ].

Young adults completing their undergraduate education, in particular, face nutritional issues that warrant the attention of health professionals. The average college freshman has been shown to gain an average of 1.8 ± 0.7 kg in the first year of university attendance [ 22 ]. Students who are transitioning from home to the college environment may make poor dietary choices and engage in little physical activity, which may contribute to the weight gain observed [ 15 , 23 ]. The obesogenic college environment, with availability of all-you-can-eat cafeterias and food high in solid fats and sugars, may play a role in promoting unhealthy choices [ 22 , 24 , 25 ]. Given the particular challenges undergraduate students face in making healthy choices, they represent an important subgroup of young adults to target in promoting sound dietary habits.

To improve dietary habits of young adults, messages about healthy eating have been delivered both through public health guidelines and interventions. In the U.S., the Dietary Guidelines for Americans provide evidence-based advice on healthy eating, and outline how people can improve their overall eating patterns [ 26 ]. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has also developed MyPlate, a graphic illustrating the 5 key food groups using the familiar image of a place setting for a meal [ 27 ]. Other countries have developed similar graphics; for example, the Chinese food guide pagoda conveys the essential components of the diet [ 28 ]. As dietary intake of college students has been found to be less than optimal [ 16 ], a number of interventions seeking to promote healthy eating have also been conducted [ 29 , 30 ]. A 2016 systematic review of dietary interventions in university students in diverse world areas, however, noted that out of the twenty studies examined, only one intervention was found to be effective in the long term [ 30 ]. In improving upon existing interventions for testing in diverse groups of students, interventions will need to be carefully adapted, evaluated and implemented [ 31 ]. Researchers have noted the importance of addressing cultural, social, environmental and psychological forces that influence health behavior in adapting interventions to foster behavior change [ 32 ]. Understanding health belief systems is particularly important in tailoring interventions to promote optimal dietary practices, as messages must fit within an individual’s frame of reference to be noticed and processed [ 33 ].

As individuals’ eating habits are shaped by the social and cultural contexts of their lives, the ideal diet may be conceptualized differently across diverse populations of young adults. Cross-cultural comparison can reveal valuable findings that may promote cognizance of diverse health belief systems and habits across groups [ 34 ]. A comparison of two groups with historically distinct belief systems related to diet and health may be particularly informative in the design of nutrition education messages. Such differences between Chinese and American populations in general, for example, have been well documented. Studies examining the principles underlying the Chinese diet, such as the Yin-Yang belief system of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), reveal stark differences between such principles and those informing the Western diet [ 35 – 37 ]. In a study of three Asian-American groups, for example, all groups expressed the general belief that specific foods have either hot or cold properties and should be eaten strategically to keep one healthy, a concept absent from the Western system [ 35 ]. However, the “Westernization” of the Chinese diet has also been well documented, reflecting the influence of global trends [ 38 – 43 ]. Chiva notes that the traditional Chinese meal obeys very strict rules and rituals [ 44 ]. However, when economic circumstances allow, people in China eat between meals at any time of day or night, according to supply and demand [ 44 ]. The traditional Chinese diet, characterized by high intake of plant-source foods, has been replaced by a diet high in refined carbohydrate, added sugars, fats and animal-source foods [ 42 , 43 ]. Given the powerful effect of global trends and changing social contexts, it is important to examine to what degree beliefs on healthy diets have converged between countries, or remain distinct. No research to date, however, has considered the intersection of cultural variables with undergraduate students’ views on diet. The purpose of the present study was to describe perspectives on healthy eating among Chinese and American young adults completing their undergraduate studies and identify similarities and differences between the two groups.

Participants and recruitment

Approval was obtained from the Institutional Review Board at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa for an exempt study to allow for analysis of student writing post data collection. Participants were Chinese ( n  = 55) and American ( n  = 57) undergraduate students enrolled in introductory nutrition courses taught by Author 1. The Chinese students were all first- and second-year Food Science majors taking a special two-week introductory nutrition course for which Author 1 was a guest instructor during summer 2014 at Hunan Agricultural University in south-central China, a comprehensive university with approximately 24,000 undergraduate students. Author 1 had been invited to teach the short course to provide the Chinese students with experience taking American-style courses taught in English. This was the first nutrition course the students had taken. The American students were primarily first- through third-years enrolled in Author 1’s general education introductory nutrition course at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, a comprehensive state university with 14,000 undergraduate students. No compensation was provided for participating in the study.

On the first day of each course, participants composed one- to two-paragraph responses in English to the following prompt: “What does the phrase ‘a healthy diet’ mean to you?” They wrote by hand on paper and were given no additional clarification by the instructor. After 15 min, the instructor collected all students’ written texts. As the task was used as a warm-up activity for the class [ 45 ], all enrolled students completed the task. The American students were later invited by Author 2 to participate in the research study and complete the consent form. Fifty-seven out of 121 enrolled students consented to the study. Because the present study was conceived after the end of the course in China, the Chinese students’ essays were approved for use as existing data. A research assistant transcribed the handwritten responses into separate electronic files, maintaining spelling and grammar as written and anonymizing the texts. Author 2 then segmented the transcribed data into 725 distinct T-units (a main clause and related subordinate clauses) and copied the segmented data into an Excel spreadsheet [ 46 ]. T-units, “the smallest group of words that can make a move in language” [ 46 ], were used as the unit of analysis in order to capture a specific meaning of each piece of text. Larger units such as paragraphs or entire essays contained more than one concept (abstract ideas about eating and nutrition) and therefore could not be labeled clearly with a single code [ 46 ]. An example of the segmentation and coding is from Chinese participant 230’s essay is provided in Table  1 .

Example of segmentation and coding from a Chinese participant’s essay

a Text has been edited for grammar and spelling to enhance clarity

Data analysis

Directed content analysis using Dedoose qualitative data analysis software (version 5.2.0, SocioCultural Research Consultants, LLC, Los Angeles, CA, 2015) was applied to identify predominant concepts [ 47 ]. An initial codebook was developed by Author 1 from concepts that had been noted in previous studies of perceptions of healthy diets [ 10 , 11 ]. Initial codes included Principles in Dietary Guidelines, Food Properties, Disease Avoidance, Food or Food Groups, Food Components (Nutrients), and Physical Outcomes [ 10 , 11 ]. Three researchers (Authors 1, 2, and 3) independently coded each essay deductively using the initial codebook [ 47 ]. Additional codes were developed inductively when existing codes proved inadequate to describe the data; the researchers iteratively discussed and collaboratively developed operational definitions of new codes. The authors discussed emerging patterns and relationships among codes and then identified higher order categories representing the main messages conveyed in the essays [ 48 ].

Authors 1 and 2 then developed a comprehensive codebook to capture the 8 primary categories identified in the open coding (listed in Tables  2 and ​ and3). 3 ). They independently coded 113 T-units of text (16 distinct essays) for reliability, discussed disagreements, refined the definitions of some codes, recoded, and achieved 81.4 % interrater reliability [ 46 ]. Authors 1 and 2 then coded the remaining data set (362 T-units each, with 113 T-units overlapping). All lines of text were coded, with those that did not fall into one of the 8 categories assigned the code “Other.” Lines coded as Other included those that did not relate to the topic of healthy eating at all (such as “I’m really excited for this semester and to learn so much more.”) and lines where the author editorialized or otherwise did not answer the question (such as “Well you should be eating those as a part of a ‘healthy diet.’”). Codes were counted to determine totals for the whole set and for each of the two participant groups, as well as code counts for each essay. Author 4 then reviewed the data to identify lines where Chinese participants drew on traditional Chinese cultural practices.

Chinese students’ ( n  = 55) descriptions of a healthy diet and exemplifying quotations

a Quotations have been edited for grammar and spelling to enhance clarity

American students’ ( n  = 57) descriptions of a healthy diet and exemplifying quotations

Validity was ensured through 1) Ongoing development of and reference to a codebook containing operational definitions of codes; and 2) Discussion and debate regarding themes identified by the team of three researchers.

The way in which healthy eating was generally described in Chinese and American participants and exemplifying quotations are provided in Tables  2 and ​ and3, 3 , respectively. Findings are reported in the order of prominence in the coded data, with the total number of T-units coded followed by the number of unique student essays noting that code. Table  4 displays the number of students who made statements relevant to each category on healthy eating.

Number of students who made statements relevant to each category on healthy eating

Perspectives on healthy eating: Chinese participants

Benefits of healthy eating.

Chinese participants generally described a healthy diet as yielding desirable physical outcomes, such as maintaining immunity and preventing digestive problems. A healthy diet was cited as increasing strength and resistance to ward off illness. In describing the potential consequences of not consuming an optimal diet, chronic conditions such as hypertension, heart disease and overweight were mentioned, as well as problems with the stomach. For example, one participant detailed the negative outcomes resulting from neglecting to eat meals, including gastric acid causing damage to the stomach. Finally, some participants mentioned appearance of the physical body being affected by eating habits, with healthy eating helping one to maintain the right weight and a desirable figure.

Less often mentioned were psychosocial outcomes, such as feeling good and being happy as a result of healthy eating. Eating foods one finds pleasurable was said to be important in living both a happy and healthy life. Participants mentioned that depression may result from suboptimal intake, as there would be a lack of energy to perform activities of daily life and live up to one’s potential.

The principles of balance, moderation and variety presented in the Chinese food guide pagoda [ 28 ] were highlighted in Chinese students’ essays. To illustrate the concept of a balanced diet, they stated that foods from different food groups should be consumed daily in the correct proportions. Participants also mentioned the need to avoid excessive eating and to consider portion size in planning meals, particularly regarding foods high in sugar and fat. They further noted that different foods should be consumed within each group to maintain varied intake.

Food groups

Chinese participants often mentioned fruits and vegetables as important components of the diet. They generally felt that meats should be included in the diet but should be consumed in smaller amounts relative to fruits and vegetables. They further provided specific recommendations with regards to certain groups, such as choosing low-fat dairy and other animal-source foods.

Timing of eating was considered important, with regular meals emphasized. Participants mentioned the value of eating “on time” or “regularly,” and in some cases specified the time of day certain meals should be consumed. For instance, one participant stated that meals were consumed during three set time periods daily: 7 − 8 AM, 12 − 1 PM, and 6 − 7 PM. Not eating on time was reported to negatively affect digestion and absorption and to impede one’s ability to carry out daily activities. Specific foods were said to be more desirable at certain times of day; for example, breakfast may consist of vegetables, fruits, and eggs, lunch of meat, and dinner of fish. The quantity of food at each meal was also viewed to play a role in maintaining health, with larger quantities of food recommended during the day than at night. In some cases, participants stated that breakfast should be the largest meal, followed by lunch, and then dinner.

Perspectives on healthy eating: American participants

American participants most commonly described healthy eating in terms of the principle of balance described in the Dietary Guidelines for Americans [ 26 ]. Essays often reflected the concept of balancing food groups and consuming meals containing foods from all groups. Participants emphasized the importance of intake of foods from all categories pictured in the food guide, and in many cases perceived elimination of certain groups from the diet for weight loss to be harmful. Participants also discussed balancing consumption with exercise, and addressed the fact that the amount of food consumed should be proportional to energy expended.

Non-food practices

Physical activity was often cited as an essential component of a healthy diet. Exercise was said to be important for a number of reasons, which included ridding the body of toxins, expending excess energy, enhancing immunity and maintaining the health of the cardiovascular system. Weight maintenance and loss were also cited as benefits of activity, which many participants said should be performed daily.

Food components

Students stated that food components such as sugar, salt and fat should be avoided in large quantities. They mentioned that foods should be rich in nutrients, and often mentioned the importance of vitamins, minerals and protein. Students also distinguished between types of carbohydrates, stating that it is desirable to consume high-fiber foods rather than those high in simple sugars.

Healthy eating was also said to be important for mental and spiritual health. Participants mentioned that too much focus on the composition of one’s diet may be detrimental to mental health, and that dietary choices should be made for the benefit of both body and mind. A healthy diet, some claimed, helps one “feel good” and wards off depression.

Cross-cultural comparison of perspectives on healthy eating

In examining the data from each group, similarities and differences were noted. Two common themes recurred in the data: 1) a healthy diet was often described in terms of food groups, with fruits and vegetables commonly mentioned in both groups, and 2) while more predominant in American participants’ essays, principles reflecting the dietary guidelines (presented in the Dietary Guidelines for Americans [ 26 ] or the Chinese food guide pagoda [ 28 ]) were evident in both groups, including balance, moderation and variety. Both Chinese and American participants often mentioned the importance of consuming “more fruits and vegetables,” ideally on a daily basis. These foods were cited as a healthy source of carbohydrate, particularly dietary fiber. In terms of principles in the dietary guidelines, participants in both groups emphasized the importance of balance and moderation. In discussing the importance of moderation, Chinese participants noted that remaining with a sense of hunger at the end of meal may be beneficial. American participants, in contrast, often described moderate consumption as key to incorporating less healthy items, such as foods high in sugar, into the diet in measured amounts. Dietary variety was also important to both groups.

There were also notable differences in participants’ descriptions of healthy eating. While both groups described a healthy diet as requiring restriction, foods to be restricted differed between the two. American participants most often cited carbohydrate-containing foods in their discussion of dietary components that should not be consumed in excess. One participant explained, “When I am trying to eat healthy I avoid all fast food, soda, or sugary drinks, no candy, or unnecessary ‘empty’ carbs.” In several cases, participants distinguished between desirable and undesirable carbohydrate-containing foods. In contrast, Chinese participants were more likely to mention limiting dietary components such as fat and salt. One stated, “Eat smaller amounts of meat, fish and vegetarian alternatives, choosing lower fat options whenever possible.” Meat, specifically beef and pork, was often cited as a food that should be limited.

Compared to Chinese participants’ descriptions of the importance of the timing of eating occasions, American participants’ narratives on this topic reflected some diverse ideas. In general, American participants mentioned timing of eating much less frequently. When mentioned, the concept of “frequent eating” was evident, with three or more meals per day to allow for intake every few hours. This view was reflected in the following explanation from an American student: “Eating small to medium sized portions throughout the day is better for most people’s metabolism than 3 large meals a day and would contribute to maintaining a healthy diet.” Quantity and particular foods to be consumed at eating occasions throughout the day were in most cases not specified, unlike in the Chinese essays, which made reference to appropriate foods for different eating occasions, such as meat at lunch, and emphasized the benefits of hearty portions in the daytime meals and smaller quantities at night.

This study is the first to compare views on healthy eating in two distinct groups of undergraduate students. While both groups described healthy eating in terms of principles guiding current nutrition recommendations and specific foods to emphasize, a number of differences were also identified. The diverse views may reflect food-related messages to which participants are exposed both through the media and educational systems in their respective countries; these findings hold important implications for nutrition education initiatives.

For Chinese participants, timing of eating was considered an important aspect of healthy eating and was mentioned much more frequently compared to American participants. The importance of timing of meals is also emphasized in TCM; classic texts note: “Meals should always be taken at the proper time. This makes them easier to digest. Yang qi increases around noon and is weak at sunset. Thus eat a hearty breakfast, a small lunch, and a frugal meal in the evening and night” [ 49 ]. Digestive organs are thought to be at their weakest after 6 PM; thus, the evening meal should be small so as not to burden the stomach [ 50 ]. Of note, however, recent studies have indicated large shifts in eating patterns in the Chinese population, with the traditional pattern of regularly eating 3 meals per day shifting toward a mixed meals pattern (3 meals plus snacks) [ 51 , 52 ]. Further, evening has been shown to be a preferred time for snacking [ 52 ]. Despite the nutrition transition in China leading to changes in timing of food consumption and content of the diet, findings of the current study reveal persistence of traditional beliefs [ 18 ].

Other aspects of Chinese students’ essays also reflected traditional beliefs. For example, physical outcomes were important motivators for consuming a healthy diet, with prevention of digestive problems a common theme. The emphasis on digestive health may also reflect the influence of TCM, which stresses the importance of digestion in maintaining health. In this system, the value of a food is determined both by its nutritional content and the ability of the body to extract that nutrition [ 53 ]. Previous qualitative studies conducted in Chinese populations in diverse world areas have revealed the belief that TCM may serve as a guide for health promotion in terms of adoption of a healthy diet [ 54 ]. Following these principles, a health professional providing medical nutrition therapy to patients holding Chinese worldviews would consider the natural warm state of the body, especially that of digestion, and would give recommendations that would not incorporate too many foods that are cold either in nature or in physical temperature and therefore may affect digestion [ 53 ].

Another possible explanation for the common mention of the importance of a healthy diet for digestive function may relate to the prevalence of functional gastrointestinal disorders in this population. While the degree to which this particular sample had experienced gastrointestinal distress is unknown, a recent study in college students in North China found that functional dyspepsia, irritable bowel syndrome and functional constipation were common [ 55 ]. In designing nutrition education interventions for young adults in China, it may be important to draw the connection between diet and digestive function, emphasizing the ways in which dietary intake may influence health of the gastrointestinal tract and prevent conditions such as constipation. Notably, a study that employed qualitative methods to examine beliefs related to obesity prevention revealed similar findings regarding views on physical outcomes of healthy eating among 40 Chinese American young adults [ 14 ]. Participants identified enhanced health as the most common benefit of healthy eating, including normal organ function, enhanced immunity, and stronger bones [ 14 ]. The Chinese have historically been found to have a strong belief in the relationship between diet and health [ 56 ], and stressing the effect of diet on specific aspects of health may be an important component of an intervention. Findings of the current study further reveal traditional beliefs related to diet, suggesting value in promoting traditional practices in Chinese young adults in efforts to prevent chronic disease as China undergoes a nutrition transition.

In addition to the mention of optimal digestive function as a physical outcome resulting from healthy eating, there was also mention, albeit less frequent, of prevention of weight gain and achievement of an attractive figure through a healthy diet. Previous studies have highlighted the strong desire to lose weight sometimes to ultra-thin and unhealthy levels in Chinese college females, despite their being underweight or normal weight in many cases [ 57 , 58 ]. Exposure in the media to Western beauty ideals has been cited as a factor that may contribute to feelings of fatness and worry about loss of control over eating [ 59 ]. Participants’ statements may also in part reflect the public health push in China to reduce rising rates of obesity. Recent economic growth in the country has led to changes in the eating habits of the population and movement toward a more Westernized diet [ 17 – 19 ]. As a result, rates of obesity have increased greatly over the past few decades in most age groups and regions for both men and women [ 40 ]. Elucidating the relationship between diet and obesity in nutrition education efforts in China will be an important component of strategies to reverse the current trends. Of note, revised Chinese dietary guidelines have recently been released and have a focus on chronic disease prevention that may assist young adults to make healthy dietary choices [ 60 ].

In line with previous findings of qualitative studies focused on defining healthy eating in diverse groups, both Chinese and American students emphasized concepts from the dietary guidelines in their countries, such as balance, variety and moderation. A study of undergraduate Canadian females, for example, demonstrated that participants seemed knowledgeable about the Canadian dietary guidelines, including the four food groups, moderation and variety [ 12 ]. Similarly, research in British adults indicated that healthy eating was conceptualized as a balanced and varied diet [ 61 ]. Balance and variety were also key concepts highlighted in a study of perceptions of healthy eating in European adults [ 62 ]. Such principles have also been cited in defining healthy eating in many other studies [ 63 – 67 ].

With regards to specific concepts from dietary guidelines highlighted in the current study, the principle of moderation was common among both Chinese and American participants’ narratives. Despite this commonality, however, each group had unique perspectives on this topic. The Chinese essays included the idea that a sense of hunger should remain at the end of an eating occasion. American students, in contrast, often cited moderation as a justification for consumption of less healthy dietary components, such as foods high in sugar. Participant statements may reflect somewhat differing views with regards to the meaning of moderate eating among the two groups. Notably, previous studies have highlighted the American focus on quantity in eating and the inclination toward excess [ 68 , 69 ]. In addition, Chinese immigrants to the United States have been found to have less dietary moderation and higher rates of chronic conditions with acculturation in comparison with less acculturated Chinese counterparts [ 70 , 71 ]. While both groups noted the importance of limiting intake of foods high in fat and sugar, as well as total calories, the way in which this knowledge is translated into action may differ, with the concept of moderation taking on different meanings. Discussion of appropriate portion sizes and consumption of food within energy needs comprises an important part of nutrition education efforts, in line with the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics’ “total diet approach” to healthy eating [ 72 ].

American participants frequently referenced balance, which is a dominant theme for basic nutrition education in the United States [ 26 ]. The current food icon, MyPlate, is based on the concepts of balance, variety and moderation, helping consumers to stay within their daily calorie needs, make smart choices from every food group, and find a balance between food and physical activity [ 27 ]. American students’ essays emphasized both the necessity of consuming a balanced diet and of offsetting consumption with sufficient exercise. The importance placed on physical activity is concurrent with previous research. In a qualitative study of 49 undergraduates at a Midwestern university, for example, LaCaille et al. found that students identified many motivators for physical activity, including being in shape, relaxation, improved mood and energy, and improved self-esteem [ 73 ]. While it is evident that the present group of young adults had knowledge with respect to the importance of exercise and current recommendations, considerable effort is still required to encourage implementation of these guidelines. As indicated in previous studies, many young adults in the U.S. do not adhere to the Dietary Guidelines and are not meeting the recommendations for physical activity [ 16 , 74 ]. As knowledge is only one factor among many that impact behavior, it may be important to focus on other factors in promoting physical activity in young adults in the U.S., such as psychological processes (perceptions, values, attitudes) that may influence health-related choices, and environmental supports that may foster desirable behavior [ 29 , 73 , 75 ].

In addition, American participants’ views on which foods to restrict also reflect current trends in the nutrition field. In recent years, a number of diet plans involving limiting carbohydrates have gained popularity, including the Atkins Diet [ 76 ], the Paleo Diet [ 77 ], and the South Beach Diet [ 78 ]. In participants’ narratives, a number of carbohydrate-containing foods were identified as targets for restriction. Of note, some participants mentioned restricting carbohydrates generally, without discussion of particular carbohydrate containing foods that would be particularly important to limit, such as sugar-sweetened beverages. In nutrition education initiatives targeting young adults in the U.S., it may important to debunk myths about dietary components such as carbohydrates, emphasizing the science behind current recommendations. Indeed, a previous study seeking to identify the needs of U.S. college students for development of nutrition education programs, identified the concept of “nutrition myths and facts,” both generally as well as on specific topics in the field, among topics of importance [ 79 ].

Several themes not typically addressed in nutrition education interventions also emerged in both groups, such as those relating healthy eating to psychosocial outcomes. Participants mentioned the importance of a sound diet in maintaining mental health, feeling good, and warding off depression. In their review of the literature on interpretations of healthy eating, Bisogni et al. also identified meanings related to psychosocial outcomes, reflecting the complexity of beliefs on healthy eating and connection to various facets of life [ 10 ]. Based on the emergence of these themes, the researchers acknowledged the importance of addressing factors beyond the scope of typical nutrition education initiatives [ 10 ]. To reflect the results of previous studies, mental health has been addressed in a number of nutrition programs implemented in recent years, including the MOVE! weight management program for veterans [ 80 ] and the COPE [Creating Opportunities for Personal Empowerment] cognitive behavioral skills building TEEN [Thinking, Emotions, Exercise, and Nutrition] program designed for adolescents [ 81 ]. Dietary change has been cited as having potential to improve mental wellbeing in undergraduate students, an important consideration for young adults [ 82 ].

Findings revealing the differences and similarities in views of healthy eating in Chinese and American young adults hold implications not only for health professionals working with these populations in their home countries, but also for professionals addressing the needs of diverse populations. Dietitians in the U.S., for example, often work to address the needs of immigrant populations that are less acculturated in terms of adapting host country dietary customs, and must therefore understand the predominant views of health in the immigrants’ country of origin. The Asian population grew faster than any other race group in the U.S. between 2000 and 2010, with Chinese making up the largest component of this group [ 83 ]. Given this, as well as the increase in obesity and related chronic conditions in the Chinese American community, researchers have highlighted the immediate need among health professionals to understand Chinese culture, with its specific beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors, as it relates to obesity risk [ 14 , 84 ]. Gaining this understanding will be particularly important not only in meeting the needs of Chinese American young adults, but also in serving Chinese international students in U.S. colleges and universities, a fast-growing population representing the majority of international students in the U.S [ 85 ]. Given the particular nutrition-related challenges that college students face, the current study provides important information that may inform nutrition education interventions in a diverse at-risk group.

This study has several limitations. First, only 2 distinct groups of young adults representing 2 world areas were included. To further compare and contrast views on healthy eating in young adults, groups in other regions such as Europe, Africa or South America could be included. Secondly, participants included in the study were drawn from only one university in each country, and had self-selected into an introductory course on nutrition, limiting the generalizability of the results. The sample was, however, heterogeneous in terms of age and gender, and did allow for the discovery of important information regarding the diverse views of healthy eating in 2 distinct populations. Finally, the methods employed did not allow for examination of student responses in terms of whether students demonstrated complex thinking that linked multiple relevant concepts. Future studies may identify issues of complex thinking to provide greater depth of analysis.

In working with Chinese and American young adults, nutrition educators will need to take into account the distinct motivators for healthy eating identified in participants’ descriptions of a healthy diet. For example, in the Chinese population, long-term physical outcomes such as enhanced immune function may be important to address, and concepts of TCM may be integrated into educational programs. For an American audience, the benefits of consuming carbohydrate-containing foods in fueling the body may be a useful area of focus. The current study also revealed the potential variability in the way in which the 2 populations interpret nutrition-related concepts such as moderation, and the need for further research to gain an in-depth understanding of meanings of such terms and how individuals put them into practice. Future studies may also further examine themes that may not typically be addressed in nutrition education programs in diverse populations of young adults and incorporate findings into nutrition education program development. Gaining greater knowledge of the ways in which healthy eating is viewed will allow for development of interventions that are sensitive to the traditional values and predominant views of health in various groups and incorporate the tastes and perspectives of the targeted population.

Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge the contribution of the participants in the study, who provided written responses to a prompt presented as part of a class activity. They also acknowledge Jason McMurray, the undergraduate research assistant who transcribed the student essays. Publication of this article was funded by the Department of Human Nutrition, Food and Animal Sciences at the University of Hawaii at Manoa.

No funding was obtained for this study.

Availability of data and materials

Authors’ contributions.

JB and BG conceived of the study and collected the data. JB, BG, MK and DZ analyzed the data and drafted the manuscript. JB and BG reviewed and edited the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Authors’ information

JB is Assistant Professor in the Department of Human Nutrition, Food and Animal Sciences at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. She has an interest in obesity prevention and health promotion in diverse populations. Much of her current work centers on nutrition education and development of tools to evaluate nutrition education programs aimed at promoting healthy eating. Her previous work at the University of California, Davis involved the development of two tools, a food behavior checklist and physical activity questionnaire, to be used in the low-income Spanish-speaking community in the U.S. to evaluate nutrition education interventions. BG is an assistant professor in the Department of Second Language Studies at the University of Hawaii Manoa. Her research interests involved second language academic literacy and language teacher development, particularly with respect to teachers’ learning to conduct research in their classrooms. Her previous research at the University of California, Davis, examined immigrant high school students' learning to write for academic purposes. MK is a registered dietitian and the former Chief Representative and blogger at Eat Well Shanghai. She is the founder of the Shanghai Nutrition Practice Group and has been a frequent contributor to Shanghai’s English magazines and online sites. She fully endorses the Eat Well Shanghai philosophy that you can eat very well and live a healthy life in Shanghai. DZ is an associate professor in the Department of Second Language Studies at the University of Hawaii, Manoa. She studies how technology can alter and augment language learning processes in place-based environments. She has published a dozen papers on the topics of affordances of virtual worlds, video games and mobile devices for cross-cultural communication and education. She is also interested in Chinese philosophy, namely Confucian role ethics, Daoism/Taoism and traditional Chinese medicine. Her recent work has been focusing on finding common ground between these correlative cosmological perspectives and Cartesian reductionist approaches for building a culturally balanced research methodology.

Competing interests

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Consent for publication

Not applicable.

Ethics approval and consent to participate

The American students were invited to participate in the research study and complete the consent form. Because the present study was conceived after the end of the course in China, the Chinese students’ essays were approved for use as existing data. Approval was obtained from the Institutional Review Board at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa for an exempt study to allow for analysis of student writing post data collection.

Additional file

American (1−57) and Chinese (200−254) Participants’ Essays. All essays for participants in China and the US. (DOCX 160 kb)

Contributor Information

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To the Editor:

Re “ American Jews in the Age of Palestine ,” by Peter Beinart (Opinion guest essay, March 24):

There is a fundamental flaw in the article. Zionism does not require backing the Israeli government; it does assume backing for the State of Israel.

The nation is and has been divided, and choosing to support the liberal elements of Israeli society, during a period when the ultra right controls the government, is not a rupture. It is a choice to support what many of us believe to be Jewish values, with the domination of the Palestinians being un-Jewish.

Yes, there is a rupture between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Jewish diaspora, but that does not translate to a rupture with Israel, at least not yet.

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Peter Beinart claims that the Anti-Defamation League is aligning itself with “Republicans who want to silence ‘woke’ activists on campus.” That’s a distortion of our record. Since 1913, the ADL has hewed to a strictly nonpartisan strategy in calling out antisemitism — whether it emanates from the far left or the extreme right, or anywhere in between.

Moreover, Mr. Beinart’s assertion that we are stifling pro-Palestinian speech is ludicrous. Since Oct. 7, there have been at least 2,874 anti-Israel rallies across the U.S., many held on or near campuses. There’s no shortage of sit-ins, opinion essays, protests and other public manifestations on behalf of the Palestinian cause.

Students are entitled to their First Amendment right to protest, but when free speech devolves into intimidation and threats, we must call it out without hesitation. At stake are the safety and security of Jewish students.

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I am an American Jew who can be both liberal regarding American politics and Zionist in my support for Israel. There is no conflict in my position.

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I would support a liberal Palestinian state and hope it will one day emerge to receive the loyalty and support of Palestinians wherever they now live. But liberal states need to be formed by a people united by a willingness to abide by a rule of law.

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Peter Beinart’s essay reminds us all of an essential point: Israel-Palestine will remain the home of millions and millions of Jews and Palestinians. Any proposed solution must grapple with that central fact.

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It’s on behalf of 30 M.I.T. faculty members from various disciplines that we write to address recent events at M.I.T. concerning the war in Gaza.

Antisemitism is rising nationally and on our campus, necessitating urgent education about its origins and practices. But accusations of antisemitism are used to suppress free speech, particularly in support of Palestinian rights.

M.I.T. students advocating Palestinian liberation face doxxing, threats and false labeling as “pro-Hamas.” Criticism of Israel’s government is wrongly equated with antisemitism, suppressing speech for Palestinian rights.

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As an academic institution, M.I.T. must prioritize difficult conversations, reflection and learning over suppression and intimidation. We must foster an inclusive environment that promotes dialogue and understanding.

We must address rising antisemitism and the suppression of free speech without perpetuating fear. M.I.T. should strive for a respectful environment that encourages open dialogue and supports the rights, humanity and dignity of all communities. No Palestinian exception.

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Grotesque sexual sadism has been present in wars throughout recorded history. That this demonic behavior erupts so often is one of the darkest indictments of the human imagination.

David Hayden Wilton, Conn.