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Foods Americans are eating more and less of since the 1970s

How our diets have changed over the decades
We’re eating far more calories
Oil and flour are staple ingredients
We’re not doing great with fruit and veg
Fewer potatoes, less orange juice and lettuce
Fewer of our calories are from sugar
More high fructose corn syrup
Low-calorie sweeteners on the up
Vegetable oil intake is higher now
Are we embracing butter again?
Soda has peaked
We’ve switched to chicken over beef
Fishy trends
Ice cream sales melt away
More rice
No extra eggs
Legumes, nuts and soy
A lot less milk
Cheese please
Yogurt is now mainstream
How do we think we are eating now compared to then?
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How our diets have changed over the decades

What we put on our plates now is very different to the 1970s. So how have our food habits changed? The Pew Research Center combed through data from the USDA’s Food Availability (Per Capita) Data System (FADS) to find out. Their report makes fascinating reading and we’ve used this and other information to show how America’s diet has changed over the last 40 years.

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Angela Dowden

08 August 2019

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