Experts say 88% of Americans are metabolically unhealthy

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For a president who consumes a Big Mac and shares it on social media, perhaps this is not a problem.

President Donald Trump was quicker to return to the presidency than to cancel climate change agreements, eliminate any relationship with the World Health Organization (WHO), and Trump fires José Andrés as White House nutrition advisor.

José Andrés is world-renowned for his efforts to improve food conditions and nutrition in critical areas around the world.

These decisions made by Trump contrast with the current state of health in the United States. A study by Virginia Gleason, a member of the 2022 Harvard Advanced Leadership Initiative, states that Americans have experienced a dramatic increase in chronic health conditions over the last 30 years. The study revealed that 88% of Americans are metabolically unhealthy, leading to conditions that impact their quality of life.

Research shows a strong link between the poor nutritional value of our food supply and chronic metabolic diseases. The standard American diet is dominated by ultra-processed food (UPF), which affects hormones and the human gut microbiome, causing inflammation in the body.

Inflammation drives metabolic diseases, including diabetes, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, and heart disease. It is also correlated with cancer, dementia, autoimmune diseases, anxiety, and many mental health conditions. These conditions lead to unnecessary suffering from diminished quality of life, aggressive behavior, and early death.

Today, UPFs make up over 70% of the food items in a typical grocery store. Government policies – most notably subsidies on corn and other grains – incentivize the increased production of high-fat meat and dairy products, seed oils, processed grains, sugar-sweetened beverages, and processed foods.

The availability of cheap, substandard ingredients influences food production practices that are not aligned with good nutrition. Furthermore, processed food manufacturers manipulate foods to be hyper-palatable and have a long shelf life, thus increasing UPF’s allure and affordability. These less nutritious food options are not obviously unhealthy; changes to food processing methods that make the standard American diet dangerous are often invisible to the consumer and are cloaked with sugar, salt, flavorings, and chemicals to make the food especially appetizing.

There are downstream impacts from the nutritionally deficient standard American diet. One of these is the cost to the healthcare system. The annual cost of treating diet-related cardiometabolic diseases in the United States is conservatively estimated at $50 billion. Currently, 75% of all healthcare dollars are spent treating chronic metabolic diseases and their associated disabilities. Obesity-related absenteeism alone costs our nation an estimated $8.65 billion per year.

Our overprocessed food supply has especially negative impacts on low-income and food-insecure communities. UPFs cost less due to the low-cost fillers and preservatives used in their manufacture. Not surprisingly, food options in disadvantaged neighborhoods are dominated by UPFs and generally make up a larger part of the diet of low-income families. As a consequence, the negative health impacts and suffering in these communities are magnified, further exacerbating existing inequities. Reducing the amount of UPFs in our food supply and the resulting nutritional inequality is not just a medical and economic issue; it is also a social justice and quality-of-life issue.

For a president who consumes a Big Mac and shares it on social media, perhaps this is not a problem. However, distancing himself from food policies that advocate for the well-being of human beings is a mistake.

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