Thursday
Aug072008
Americans Are Eating More - But Of What?
Thursday, August 7, 2008 at 7:13AM 
In 1970 the average American ate 16.4 pounds of food per week. By 2006 this had increased an additional 1.8 pounds per week.
What changed?
This nifty info-graphic by the New York Times shows some interesting trends.
- We drink 74% less whole milk but eat 180% more cheese
- Consumption of corn sweeteners is up by 373%
- We eat 14% less butter and 48% more added fats
The data made to create the graph is available from the US Department of Agriculture as Excel spreadsheets. I created the graph below a spreadsheet that contained our average daily per capital calories by year from 1970-2006.
![[Calories.xls]Totals Chart 1.jpg](http://s3.media.squarespace.com/production/540509/6584332/blog/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/calories.xlstotals-chart-1.jpg)
It's interesting to note that consumption of Fruit, Vegetables, and Dairy has been reasonably consistent, but check out that spike in added fats from 1999 to 2001. Our average daily calories from added fats went up from 497 to 616 in just one year! Any food detectives out there have any idea why?
The Overflowing American Dinner Plate[via DietBlog]
USDA Loss-Adjusted Food Availability Dataset
Reader Comments (2)
An extra 120 calories a day from added fat = an extra 43,800 calories per year.
This works out to 12 1/2 lbs of extra fat that you will pack onto that previously svelte bod of yours.
Played out over a decade: Surprise!!!... You are 125 lbs heavier
And probably diabetic with high blood pressure and an excellent candidate for a stroke.
Those are really interesting, clear visuals.