The American Diet

The Standard American Diet has become well known as SAD. Researchers and clinicians like to use the acronym because the standard American diet is associated with the prevalence to obesity and high chronic disease rates.

Quick Statistics below were taken verbatim from the American Heart Association 2006 Update on Heart Disease and Stroke Statistics:

The average daily intake of dietary cholesterol in the United States is 269.6 milligrams (mg). For males it's 323.5 mg and for females it's 218.9 mg	In 1999–2000, among children ages 2–6, 20% had a good diet, 74% had a diet that needed improvement, and 6% had a poor diet. For those ages 7–12, 8% had a good diet, 79% had a diet that needed improvement, and 13% had a poor diet.
Between 1977 and 1996, portion sizes for key food groups grew markedly in the United States, not only at fast-food outlets but also in homes and at conventional restaurants. One study of portion sizes for typical items showed that: Salty snacks increased from 132 calories to 225 calories. Soft drinks increased from 144 calories to 193 calories. French fries increased from 188 calories to 256 calories. Hamburgers increased from 389 calories to 486 calories.	Between the years 1985 to 2000 daily calorie consumption increased by 12% or roughly 300 calories. Of that increase mainly refined grains accounted for 46%, added fats 24%, added sugars 23%, fruits and vegetables 8%, with meat and dairy overall declining 1%.
The recommended daily intake of dietary fiber is 25 g or more. Americans consume a daily average of 15.6 g of dietary fiber (17.8 g for males and 13.6 g for females)	Analysis of participants in the Cardiovascular Health Study (CHS) showed that cereal fiber consumption late in life was associated with lower risk of incident CVD, supporting recommendations for elderly people to increase consumption of dietary cereal fiber.
In 2000, 81% of men and 73% of women reported eating fewer than 5 servings of fruits and vegetables a day. More than 60% of young people eat too much fat, and less than 20% eat the recommended 5 or more servings of fruits and vegetables each day.	The highest proportion of adults who consumed fruits and vegetables at least 5 times a day were those age 65 and older, whites, college graduates, those actively engaged in leisure-time physical activity, and nonsmokers.
Recent studies support the intake of up to 9 servings of fruits and vegetables per day.	From 1994–96 for children ages 6–19, only 14% met then-current USDA Food Pyramid recommendations for daily fruit intake (2–4 servings per day). Only 20% got enough vegetables (3–5 servings per day).
In 1980, about 50% of high school seniors reported eating green vegetables "nearly every day or more." By 2003, that figure had dropped to about 30%

(Thom et al. 45-47)

 

"In America, 15-16% of our total calories comes from protein and upwards of 80% of this amount comes from animal based foods. But in rural China only 9-10% of total calories come from protein and only 10% of the protein comes from animal based foods" (Campbell & Campbell 73-74). Comparing American's to a place where the rate of chronic disease is much lower.


 

Fat and Cholesterol

 
The World Health Organization compared regions of the world and found Europeans and North American's have the highest fat intake since the 1960's and also have the highest incidents of chronic disease, diseases that can be controlled through nutrition. Even though American's are eating a little less meat in the last 10 years, residents in North America (and Europe) still eat considerably more animal protein than other area's coupled with a propensity toward high-fat, sugary foods and snacks making SAD a time bomb that has already gone off; just few are recognizing the boom. 


According to Chizzolini et al., "Nutritional guidelines suggest that dietary fat should provide between 15 and 30% of total calories and that saturated fats should be limited to between 0 and 10% of caloric intake." The authors go on to say, "Epidemiological and clinical studies have suggested that high-fat diets, regardless of their fatty acid distribution, increase blood cholesterol concentrations." (Chizzolini et al. 119) Cholesterol is linked to CVD, diabetes and other chronic diseases.


 
Animal protein is, for the most part, the only way for humans to get cholesterol into their bodies. Plants do contain trace amount of sterols whose structures are clinically the same to those of animal-based cholesterol, but it would take 1,247 pounds of vegetables to squeeze out one ounce of cholesterol. The average lean piece of chicken has about 81 (mg/100g) (Chizzolini et al 121). "Blood cholesterol is clearly an important indicator of disease risk. The big question is: how will food affect blood cholesterol?" (Campbell & Campbell 80) Cholesterol is found in animal based foods and in contrast plant based foods lower cholesterol in humans while also containing no cholesterol (Campbell & Campbell 80). 

As blood cholesterol levels in rural China rose in certain counties the incidence of "Western" diseases also increased. What made this so surprising was that Chinese levels were far lower than we had expected. The average level of blood cholesterol was only 127 mg/dL, which was almost 100 points less than the American average (215 mg/dL)….In the U.S., our range is around 170-290 mg/dL…There is a myth that there might be health problems if cholesterol levels were below 150 mg/dL. If we follow that line of thinking, about 85% of the rural Chinese would appear to be in trouble…Lower blood cholesterol levels are linked to lower rates of heart disease, cancer and other Western diseases, even at levels far below those considered "safe" in the West. (Campbell & Campbell; Campbell 78)

 
American's now consume 300 percent more cheese since the 1970's (Bennett 3). Nutrition researcher, Dr. Campbell, argue that "casein affects the way cells interact with carcinogens, the way DNA reacts with carcinogens and the way cancerous cells grow." (Campbell & Campbell 65) Dr. Campbell contends that according to his research that milk products promote cancer growth.


 
A study conducted by the CDC approximated in 2005 that 32.6% of the U.S. adult population surveyed consumed fruit two or more times per day, and 27.2% ate vegetables three or more times per day. (CDC 2)

Age	Consumed Fruit 2 or more times per day
35-44 years old	27.9%
44-65	45.9%

Table 5 - American Fruit Consumption (CDC 2)

Age	Consumed vegetables 3 or more times p/day
18-24	20.9%
24-65	33.7%

Table 6 - American Vegetable Consumption (CDC 2)

 

Sugar Intake

Sugar intake has clearly been on the rise over the centuries.

• In 1700, the average person consumed about 4 pounds of sugar per year.
  
• In 1800, the average person consumed about 18 pounds of sugar per year.
  
• In 1900, individual consumption had risen to 90 pounds of sugar per year.
  
• In 2009, more than 50 percent of all Americans consume one-half pound of sugar PER DAY, 180 pounds of sugar per year! (Johnson and Grower 416)
  

Just a brief look at the increase of consumption over the decades it's easy to understand the obesity epidemic. According to the authors of Skinny Bitch "sugar is like crack, and food manufactures know that if they add it to their products, you'll keep coming back." (Freedman and Barnouin 27-28) According to Freedman and Barnouin, "The United States is the largest supplier of sugar-laden foods in the world" (Freedman and Barnouin 29). This paper will not have the opportunity to broach the issue with artificial sweeteners and the issues that can arise from these "calorie free" sugars. It maybe wise the heed the saying, "There are no free rides" as this should be correlated with the artificial sweeteners.


 

 
According to the USDA report of Sweetener Consumption, "The U.S. consumption of sugars added to food items increased by 23 percent between 1985 and 1999" (Haley et al. 1). In a time when the typical lifestyles use less energy for survival the demand for sugary foods has increased in contradiction to our energy output widening the American waistline.

 

It seems Americans are not getting a clear message of what type of nutrition it takes to maintain a healthy, disease free body. Granted there are no guarantees, and there is always exceptions such as the odd 80 year old, 2 pack a day smoker, that seems like he/she will live forever. But those cases are few and far between. The intensive program launch in North Karelia (mentioned in the Chronic Disease section near the beginning of this paper) proves that with an effective plan (coupled with strong leadership) to educate the public the average American's health can be turned toward a better direction (Puska et al 419). Side effects from an effective real plan would be would be less burdened health care system, increased productivity with less work days lost, and Medicare would require less tax payer dollars. 











 

 
Reference:

Bennett, Jannequin. The Complete Vegan Kitchen. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2007. Print.

Campbell, T. Colin, and Thomas M. Campbell. The China Study: the Most Comprehensive Study of Nutrition Ever Conducted and the Startling Implications for Diet, Weight Loss and Long-term Health. Dallas, Tex.: BenBella, 2005. Print.

Chizzolini, R., et. al. "Calorific Value and Cholesterol Content of Normal and Low-fat Meat and Meat Products." Food Science and Technology 10 (1999). Sciencedirect.com. 25 Oct. 1999. Web. 5 Apr. 2010.

Freedman, Rory, and Kim Barnouin. Skinny Bitch: a No-nonsense, Tough-love Guide for Savvy Girls Who Want to Stop Eating Crap and Start Looking Fabulous! Philadelphia: Running, 2005. Print.

Haley et al. Electrontic Outlook Report from the Economic Research Service. Sweetener Consumption in the United States. Distribution by Demographic and Product Characteristics,
2005. USDA. August 2005 Web. 5 April 2010

Johnson, Richard J., and Timothy Gower. The Sugar Fix: the High-fructose Fallout That Is Making You Fat and Sick. Emmaus, Pa.: Rodale, 2008. Print.

Thom, Thomas et al. "Heart Disease and Stroke Statistics 2006 Update." Circulation E151 113.E85 (2006). American Heart Association. Web. 5 Apr. 2010.

United States. Center for Disease Control. Fruit and Vegetable Consumption Among Adults - - United States, 2005. CDC, 16 Mar. 2007. Web. 7 Apr. 2010.

World Health Organization. Diet , Nutrition and the Prevention of Chronic Diseases. Rep. The World Health Organization, 2003. Web. 5 Apr. 2010.