Chronic health conditions (like heart disease, diabetes, cancer, and obesity) are costly and deadly—causing over half of U.S. deaths in 2018. They also exacerbated the pandemic: Americans with such conditions were 12 times more likely to die after contracting COVID, according to the CDC
This report outlines the true cost of food, which includes the impacts on our health, the environment, biodiversity, livelihoods, and much more. With this new analysis, governments, advocates, corporations, and individuals are better equipped to catalyze the change needed to develop a truly nourishing, equitable, and sustainable food system in the United States.
Nutrition security emphasizes access, availability and affordability of foods that promote well-being and prevent or treat disease, not just foods that provide calories.
Almost half of U.S. adults, or 46%, have a poor-quality diet, with too little fish, whole grains, fruits, vegetables, nuts and beans, and too much salt, sugar-sweetened beverages and processed meats.
Government policy has been hijacked by "Big Food"—the farm input suppliers, ingredient processors, and peddlers of cheap, highly processed foods.
Fifty-two years ago, President Nixon convened the first and still only White House Conference on Food, Nutrition and Health.
America’s poor diet isn’t just bad for us. It’s now considered a threat to national security.
The Friedman School and other institutes have outlined specific options to strengthen and accelerate federal nutrition research to transform lives, reduce health disparities, and reduce health-care spending.
The first NIH-wide strategic plan for nutrition research emphasizes cross-cutting, innovative opportunities to advance nutrition research across a wide range of areas, from basic science to experimental design to research training.