Poor nutrition in America? On the surface, this would seem highly unlikely. Most of us are aware of the "high standard of living" that exists here. Statistics abound to show that the United States in the 1990's is one of the richest and best-fed nations in the world. We are constantly reminded--especially when food prices go up--that Americans spend a smaller fraction of their income on food than any other people in the world, now or ever in history. Twentieth-century America represents one of the few examples in history of a nation whose people do not spend all or a vast majority of their waking hours just getting enough food to stay alive.
But to any American conscious of our country's eating habits, there's far more to the story than contained in the preceding paragraph.
Some people might argue that Americans have simply developed a taste for foods that happen to be not very nutritional. There's no question that soda drinks, potato chips, sugared cereals, artificial pastries, and a host of other products that tastes good but contribute little or nothing to one's health are extremely popular today. Food companies might argue that they produce these junk foods purely to meet the demand of consumers for them.
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