After decades of churning out processed food-like substances, America is now reaping the health disaster it sowed. Our leading causes of death – heart disease, diabetes, certain cancers – are largely diet-driven chronic diseases, not random bad luck.
Ultra-processed foods make up 58% of the American diet, and they’re directly linked to higher rates of everything from heart failure to depression. In other words, the US chronic disease epidemic isn’t a medical mystery; it’s a food system and nutrition failure.
Weak regulations and powerful food lobbies have flooded supermarkets and school cafeterias with addictive, nutrient-poor products, and now life expectancy is actually falling amid this modern malnutrition.
Until we treat Big Food like Big Tobacco – there’s even talk of international treaties to curb ultra-processed junk – we’ll continue financing a healthcare crisis that starts on our dinner plates.
https://www.wsj.com/health/wellness/red-meat-chronic-disease-artificial-sweeteners-c8a7e8db