3,800 calories per day?
Snoop Puss said:
No-one has commented on the claim, if I remember rightly, that the average American eats 3,800 calories a day. Is that really the case? Or is it gross exaggeration?
It's a misleading quote from a source other than the one cited on the Diet Blog page. Here's the original:
Agriculture Factbook 2001-2002/chapter 2
Here's the important part:
<snip from
Agriculture Factbook 2001-2002/chapter 2>
The aggregate food supply in 2000 provided 3,800 calories per person per day, 500 calories above the 1970 level and 800 calories above the record low in 1957 and 1958.
Of that 3,800 calories, USDA’s Economic Research Service (ERS) estimates that roughly 1,100 calories were lost to spoilage, plate waste, and cooking and other losses, putting dietary intake of calories in 2000 at just under 2,700 calories per person per day.
</snip>
There's no doubt that Americans are eating more than we used to, and less healthfully, but it's not helpful to misrepresent what's going on.
This next part is interesting, too:
<snip from
Agriculture Factbook 2001-2002/chapter 2>
ERS data suggest that average daily calorie intake increased by 24.5 percent, or about 530 calories, between 1970 and 2000. Of that 24.5-percent increase, grains (mainly refined grain products) contributed 9.5 percentage points; added fats and oils, 9.0 percentage points; added sugars, 4.7 percentage points; fruits and vegetables together, 1.5 percentage points; meats and nuts together, 1 percentage point; and dairy products and eggs together, -1.5 percentage point.
</snip>