Nutrition has become as controversial a topic as any in science, and the stakes are too high to get it wrong. In the US alone, 6 in 10 adults have a chronic disease like heart disease, cancer, diabetes, or dementia, and 73.6% are overweight or obese, with poor diet as the primary cause, leading not only to decreasing healthy life expectancy for the first time in recorded history, but also skyrocketing healthcare costs and significantly increased risk of death from viruses like COVID-19.
Poor diet and disease in America is a systemic, not personal failing. As one example, the CDC’s explanation of what causes chronic disease doesn’t come close to explaining the exponential rise in diseases like diabetes and obesity.
The CDC defines poor nutrition as, “diets low in fruits and vegetables and high in sodium and saturated fats,” yet Americans today are not eating any fewer fruits and vegetables, or any more sodium and saturated fat than we were in the beginning or middle of the last century, when diabetes and obesity were medical rarities.
What to eat to be healthy and avoid disease depends on who (and when) you ask. Many foods that are considered harmful by some groups, like soy and grains, or meat and eggs, are considered the cornerstone of a healthy diet by others. Similarly, dietary patterns that were once promoted by health organizations, like low-fat high-carbohydrate snacks, are now vilified, leaving many people with more questions than answers.
- Does saturated fat clog our arteries?
- Is low-carb the answer to our nutrition quandaries, or is eating more whole grains?
- What’s better, a plant-based or a paleo diet?
- Are soy-based burgers healthier than beef burgers?
- Is fruit juice healthy, or is it a sugar bomb?
- Should we embrace low-fat or high-fat diets?
- Are eggs good for us or are they too high in cholesterol?
Following the covers of TIME Magazine alone tells the story of our schizophrenic relationship with food.
In 1984, a plate of eggs and bacon made the cover of TIME Magazine, which featured an article warning readers about the perils of dietary cholesterol. And yet in 1999, TIME released a very different cover, suggesting that dietary cholesterol and eggs are in fact okay.
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