Italian seaside totally unrelated to this post
Do you ever wonder how many of your total calories come from added sugars? Grains? Dairy products? Added fats?
You’d have to do some detailed nutrient analysis to get your personal numbers, but if you’d like U.S. averages, see this cool infographic at Civil Eats.
The graph also shows how many calories are or were available for consumption per capita over time (without accounting for wastage in restaurants). It’s based on U.S. Department of Agriculture data.
A superficial glance suggests that U.S. per capita daily calorie consumption has increased by about 600 from the 1970s until now. But remember, these numbers don’t discount for restaurant wastage. Nor do I see an adjustment for children versus adults. I’ve seen other calculations of and extra daily 150 calories (women) to 300 calories (men). Even the lower numbers could explain our explosion of overweight and obesity.
The infographic suggests that U.S. average daily calorie consumption is 2,673. Based on NHANES data, it’s probably closer to 2,250.
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