Let's Talk About the American Diet

            Once in an epidemiology class, my TA (teaching assistant), a licensed dietitian, was presenting his study’s findings. Prior to revealing the findings, he asked us the question: “Which age group in the U.S. do you think rates the healthiest according to the HEI, Healthy Eating Index, and our study’s participants?” He asked us to first discuss among our table and then potentially choose one. Other tables began discussing their choices, which was adults, some ranged in young adults, Millennials, or young college students, Gen Z. I finally decided to voice out my thought process to my Table, as no one began the discussion. “I think it is either babies or elderly adults,” I said. The other students stared, and I tried to explain my reasoning, and they eventually coincided or just let me speak for our table. Then the TA went around the room to ask us our responses, and I proudly said my answer: “We think that babies/infants or the elderly adults are the healthiest age group in the U.S.” My whole class burst out laughing, but my TA smiled and actually questioned me more. “Did you say 'and?'” he asked me. I replied no, and he asked further, “Why do you think they would be?” I responded, “Well, both are mostly cared for by their families and routinely go to medical check ups; also, they are the closest age groups to have access to dietitians and meal prepping.” Some classmates chuckled, and the TA looked surprised with my reasoning and said, “So, mostly because they don’t feed themselves alone?” I blushed and agreed, as I felt he understood my logic. Every other table mostly thought either working adults or college students were the healthiest age group. He then revealed his findings on the next slide. It stated that both babies/infants and elderly adults were the healthiest age groups in the U.S., but still had a low score on the HEI score (< 70).

           Now, you may be wondering if I am solely telling this anecdote to brag; trust me, I wanted every age group to be ranked as healthy, but I know that optimism can blind us from the reality, occasionally. The truth is even as a biology student, and I’ve heard that even for medical professionals, like doctors and nurses, most of us really don't know how to eat healthy. I mean we hear the phrase: “Just avoid processed foods.” But, sometimes, we genuinely don’t know what is considered processed or not, as this isn’t really taught in our education, unless we become nutritionists, dietitians, or kinesiologists. A definition I’ve learned, now as an adult, is that any food which isn’t naturally grown or found in nature is processed.

           If we go into a supermarket, for the most part, the only unprocessed foods are the fruits, vegetables, and meat sections. Even then, people, rightfully so, will say that some produce is GMO, or genetically modified organisms. Corn and bananas are part of this category, but that doesn’t mean that they aren’t healthy; it just means that scientists were able to work with nature to select for better produce descendants. Bananas are now longer and can still provide us with the much needed Potassium. Natural corn, as well, helps us intake our much needed dose of vitamin A, as well as other nutrients.

           Despite the fear mongering and rhetoric of the potential future Secretary of Health and Human Services, RFK Jr, would like us to accept, science and nature have been working together to help society grow and live longer. Food has requirement check ups in order to help humanity; are animals being treated unjustly and plumped full of antibiotics? Yes. Is the solution to become vegan? In my opinion, it is any person’s choice to eat whatever they prefer; I personally prefer to be an omnivore; however, there needs to be changes to the meat industry for both animal treatment and more sustainable agricultural practice. Likewise, milk has to be pasteurized in order to be healthy; this was a crucial historical monumental celebration when Louis Pasteur found the means to help humanity combat future epidemics. It is thanks to science and nature that human beings have been able to now age well into the elderly stages.

           History provides us with the answers to our future. Unfortunately, sometimes we want to believe that the past is behind us, and to only look to the future, but it is thanks to the past that we can achieve the present and future. Sometimes, people can take advantage of others’ lack of knowledge. Before such offenders were known as charlatans and snake oil vendors, nowadays we still have them in the form of Bitcoin sellers, social media influencers, and some celebrities.

           For example, multiple social media influencers are sponsored by companies to sell their protein supplement products, preworkout powders, and electrolyte supplements, such as Liquid IV. However, studies have found that vegan protein powders are actually detrimental and carcinogenic to its users, due to contaminated soil minerals. Preworkout powders are also harmful as their habitual users may be at risk for harmful cardiovascular endpoints, such as a heart attack. Online influencers, such as fitness ones, will recommend preworkout supplements, which are usually not FDA approved or regulated for their audience. Not only are these supplements overly consumed by both the influencers and their audiences, but they may or may not know that these “preworkout” products contain caffeine; then, some influencers will also show themselves drinking coffee after some preworkout powder/drink. While there are conflicting opinions on whether caffeine is beneficial or harmful, regardless, anything in excess is harmful to the human body. Excessive electrolytes from products like Liquid IV and Gatorade, which are more so geared towards athletes or post workout, are well known to increase the risk for nephrolithiasis, or kidney stones. Even excessive water consumption can cause hyponatremia, or low blood sodium. Therefore, the solution always lies in moderation or refusal to consume products that are not essential.

           I wrote a parody on the “Lemme GLP-1 supplements” because I also know after seeing YouTube videos and the homepage for these supplements that the product is not by any means FDA approved, nor has it ever been reviewed. The Lemme website claims that there are published scientific articles for their ingredients. While it does appear that these scientific articles are real; if one notices clearly, it is for the individual ingredient and never the mixture of the three. What is my point? That each ingredient may have been studied in previous research, which may have been the synthetic version rather than the natural ones. Also, it does not take someone with a PhD in Chemistry to know that this “supplement” is composed of a mixture of all these chemicals, and chemicals form bonds. Therefore, the chemicals do not stay in isolation and may actually bond to form others in the pill. Regardless, the product does not work because it is not like what it claims of being a more “affordable, natural version of Ozempic or Wegovy” because it is not a synthetic, or lab manufactured drug. Therefore, people are spending their hard earned money on a useless, potentially harmful product; when we should really be spending our money on actual natural products, like fruits and vegetables to gain a better intestinal tract and alleviate cardiovascular risks. Mistakes have been made in the past and present, but we have the capacity to learn and grow together to change our outcomes.

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