Information about the Aspen Ideas Festival is here. I am scheduled for a session, The American Wellness Paradox, currently scheduled from 11:00-11:50 a.m., at the East Lawn Tent. This will be a discussion with senior HHS policy advisor, Calley Means. Here’s the blurb on it: “Americans are spending more than ever on healthcare, supplements, wellness trends, and “clean eating,” yet rates of chronic disease and metabolic illness continue to climb. As skepticism fuels the rise of movements like MAHA, debates over what Americans should eat have become deeply cultural, political, and economic. Two influential voices with sharply different perspectives on nutrition and food science explore how food systems, farming practices, consumer culture, and the wellness industry collided to create one of the defining public health debates of our time.”
by Marion Nestle
Jan
9
2011
Census Bureau releases food statistics
Thanks to the New York Times for telling us about the Census Bureau’s release of the 2011 Statistical Abstract of the U.S. This is lots of fun and the Times’ account picked out a few highlights of what has changed since 2000:
- The meat industry is contracting? Red meat consumption is 108.3 pounds per capita, down 5.4 pounds.
- Nutritionists! Uh oh: Vegetable consumption is 392.7 pounds per capita, down a shocking 30 pounds.
- The wine industry must be happy: Wine consumption is 2.5 gallons per capita, up by half a gallon.
- The establishment of organic standards in 2002 is working: Organic farmland covers 4.8 million acres, a 170% increase.
- Hold your nose: Five states—Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska, North Carolina, and South Dakota—have more pigs than people.
You can pick out your own favorite food and nutrition factoids by taking a look at the health and nutrition and the Agriculture statistical tables. Fisheries has a section of its own. Enjoy!
