How the American diet has failed

If you were to take a little bit of dairy, add a slightly larger serving of vegetables, fruits and proteins, and then pile on as many superfluous oils, fats, and grains as possible, you would have a reasonably accurate depiction of the modern American diet.

Americans on average now eat nearly 2,600 calories a day, almost 500 more than they did forty years ago, according to the USDA, which uses food production data, along with spoilage and waste estimates, to approximate per capita consumption.