The Perfect Formula 9purportedly spending a million dollars to improve the original pyramid
design and description, a more politically palatable version was released.
At the time, I interpreted the outcome as typical Washington politics.
Yet in my dismissiveness, I had overlooked the most crucial element—an
ongoing pattern to block or at least water down nutrition policy when-
ever it threatened the grand food bargain. Without realizing it, most
Americans were ceding their long-term health to a culture of more.
In the decades since, little has changed. When compared with six-
teen peer countries, the United States is near the top in terms of wealth
but near the bottom in terms of health. Per person, we spend more on
health care and less on food. We also consume more calories per person
than any other country. And we are dead last in chronic maladies like
obesity, diabetes, and heart disease, the leading cause of death.
In the United States, almost seven out of ten adults are overweight,
with more than half obese. One in three adults suffers from hyper-
tension; 30 percent maintain high-risk cholesterol levels. An esti-
mated one of three cancer deaths is linked to excess body weight,
poor nutrition, or physical inactivity. Even those most likely attuned
to nutrition—Caucasian, college-educated, upper-income, insured—
are in worse health than their peers in other countries. The disconnect
between nutrition and food production has not served America well.
Today’s food system did not start out at odds with nutrition. Though
the initial 894 dietary recommendations never mentioned vitamins
or minerals, the public already knew that citrus could prevent scurvy
without knowing how. Nutrition science would later record the presence
of vitamin C in citrus, the importance of minerals like iron to stem
anemia, and the value of iodine to avert developmental disabilities like
thyroid enlargement.
When vitamins like B (thiamine), B 3 (niacin), C, and D were docu-
mented in specific foods, boosting consumption of foods contain-
ing these nutrients became a public health priority. Dietary recommen-
dations included basic food groupings such as fruits and vegetables,
cereals and grains. Diets consisting solely of corn or potatoes were
deemed insufficient.